Dance of the Dog God
by Tartarun
Summary: Kakashi loved Konoha a little less and his father a bit more. What happens next changes the face of history. However Team 7's destiny years later is still wrapped with the silver haired man's and an intricate dance begins.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I had this idea the other day after reading HPMOR and thought it would be an interesting exercise to try. This isn't a rational fic, there's no way I'm clever enough for that.**

"Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke." Iruka read out from the scroll anticipating some sort of extreme reaction.

"Hn." Sasuke smirked at Naruto, "I'm stuck with you for a while it seems."

"I don't know why I thought I'd get rid of you in another genin team." Naruto returned flatly with a trace of amusement.

The third team member shot both of them looks from under her pink hair.

"Sakura-chan was it?" Naruto turned to face her. He smiled suddenly and his face seemed to light up, "It's very nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you too." She spoke back somewhat hesitantly. It seemed the other two members already knew each other, so she was the only stranger. Would this turn into a repeat of her class again? With her being left out as everyone knew and laughed with each other?

Sasuke raised a hand in greeting. The girl didn't seem too bad, quiet, nice so far…then again he hadn't spoken to any females other than Rin for years. He had no idea how this was going to turn out.

Iruka kept an eye on all the teams that moved to sit by each other. This year was a test run of a radical new approach suggested by Jonin Nohara. She felt that educating children to become shinobi at such a young age should be revised so that the boys and girls trained separately until it was time to graduate. Iruka agreed wholeheartedly, the girls often hit puberty first and so the hormonal mix the Academy could become was a disaster for potential kunoichi. This way the future kunoichi would have a more focused education without becoming 'useless fan girls' as Jonin Nohara argued.

It seemed to be working so far Iruka noted critically, the girls were focused and quiet and already he could see them checking out the boy's class not as targets but as competition.

He smiled slightly before rolling up the scrolls. "Your Jonin senseis will be around to pick you up after lunch. Dismissed."

Naruto stretched in his seat, "Hey, what do you say to having lunch with us Sakura-chan? Sasuke and I know each other well so it'll be a good chance to include you in our team."

She nodded and slowly got up from her seat. "Got any ideas where?" She noticed he called himself and Sasuke a team already like Sakura was an outsider.

"No." Sasuke interrupted almost immediately. She turned to look at the handsome dark haired boy who was sending her an amused look, "First thing to learn, never let Naruto pick where to eat." He slammed his hands on the table and pushed himself up and stretched his arm. "You pick."

"Umm." Sakura thought for a second, Naruto snapped at Sasuke something about ramen but she didn't listen, "What about Yoshinobikaru's?"

"Sounds good." Sasuke shrugged and moved towards the door conspicuously taking the role of leader.

Sakura turned slightly to see Naruto send her a carefully measured look.

"Problem?" She asked lightly her lips feeling like lead.

"You're civilian born aren't you?" The blond boy smiled strangely.

She frowned, "What of it?" Were they prejudiced clan children?

Naruto laughed, "Nothing maa, it's perfectly fine by me! It's just odd to see a girl talking normally to Sasuke."

He grinned and it reminded Sakura powerfully of a fox, then strode past her. "Come on." He called back cheerfully, "We're going to be late."

….#########################...

The food was hot and so Sakura blew on it to cool it down.

"Sasuke." Naruto stabbed his food warningly.

Sasuke paused in the mixing of his food. "Hn? Oh right."

He placed his chop sticks down.

"First thing you have to know is that we're an odd team." He spoke to Sakura bluntly, "Naruto and I weren't meant to be on the same team period. And there's a bunch of other issues so basically this team is going to be under a lot of scrutiny to make sure we're up to standards."

"Why?" She asked furrowing her eyebrows.

Naruto coughed and it sounded suspiciously like bastards. "Because he's an Uchiha." He pointed with his chop sticks and I have a really unstable kekkei genkei." He chewed on his food, "Sorry to say this, but you were put on here to try and balance us out. You weren't put here out of consideration what was going to be best for you but what would be best for us."

"Just so you don't go into this with the wrong idea." Sasuke continued idly snapping his chopsticks together.

Sakura's grip nearly snapped her chopsticks.

"Your point is?" She breathed.

"Ah…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Don't take it like that, we don't like it either. But you have to be careful, if you feel like you're being ignored or overlooked it's because you _are._" He looked at her seriously over the top of his food. "Our sensei can't help it, it's not his fault and it's not yours either."

Sakura's chopsticks creaked in her hands. So she had been moved from a class of thirty to a team of three and she would still be ignored.

"What are you two prodigies are something?" She snapped. "And you know who our sensei is already?"

"Yes." Sasuke picked up a rice ball with his chopsticks and stared at it thoughtfully. "We are." He chewed on it and swirled the soup, "There's only one possible candidate for our sensei." He spoke calmly.

"Who?"

"My cousin; Obito Uchiha." He answered easily.

"Because he can help you the most." She replied bitterly. She knew the world wasn't fair but she would have liked to pretend it was for a little longer at least. "What's so special about you?"

Sasuke looked at her with hooded eyes but didn't answer.

Naruto looked at her in pity, she hated it. "Obito's a good guy. Honestly, he'll do his best by you Sakura chan. But…"

"He'll focus more on you." Sakura's chopsticks shattered in her hands and she calmly picked up another set. "Because to him I'm the place holder in the team to make it even out."

"Pretty much." Sasuke agreed callously.

"Sasuke." Naruto snapped. "There is enormous pressure on this team and you are not helping."

"Pressure?" Sakura asked.

"Our kekkei genkei are legendary." Naruto explained, "And I'm the last of mine, Sasuke's one of three people who holds his. On top of that my reputation around the village isn't that great. The Hokage himself is interested in this team, we're going to be under scrutiny from all the Jonin to the secret police to make sure nothing goes wrong and to make sure-"

"We're shaping up to be good little soldiers." Sasuke cut in a bitter note gracing his tone. "So I hope for your sake you have a skill you can exploit. Or you'll be eaten alive."

"But I'm normal." She almost stuttered.

Sasuke looked at her pityingly as if he was already choosing the flowers to put on top of her coffin.

"But we are a team." Naruto clicked his chopsticks together, "You can count on us, if we can count on you. We're not happy with this either and we have to work together to survive this."

She chuckled, "Ahh I always thought prodigies had easy lives coasting through ahead of everyone else."

"Such a naïve girl." Sasuke smirked, "Eat up, you'll need it."

…..#######################...

She sat stiffly back in the classroom waiting for their Jonin sensei. She wondered if he would have the grace to look her in the eye and explain what he would be doing. She snuck a glance at the two boys either side of her, true to their words they had given everyone else in the classroom a pretence of them including her in their unit.

"Sasuke, Naruto." A strong female voice greeted them from the front of the classroom. A strikingly beautiful woman with brown hair and purple stripes on her cheeks smiled kindly at the boys. Then she turned to face the rest of the classroom and barked, "Team 8, line up."

Kiba, Hinata and Shino hurried up instinctively wary of the commanding tone in the woman's voice.

"Good." The woman mused, "If you can save three lives by sundown I'll take you on as my students." She declared, "If not." Her eyes darkened, "You'll be sent back to the Academy in disgrace."

Naruto huffed in laughter next to her and even Sasuke smirked.

"She's going easy on them." Naruto explained lowly to her. "Note she didn't specify what kind of lives they had to save." She felt her face twist in respect, the woman noticed it and a razor sharp smile winked at her mouth before flickering out.

"Who are you lady?" Kiba asked suspiciously, "Are you even the right person?"

"My name is Nohara Rin." The woman answered eyes stern slits. "Jonin of Konohagakure. Now get going genin, you've lost five minutes."

Team 8 rushed out of the room. Rin strode over to Team 7 in three strides and placed a slender hand on Naruto's desk.

"Don't worry, he won't be late." Her eyes flashed dangerously, "If he is, tell me and I'll sort it out."

"Hai." Sasuke answered lazily, "Is that him I hear now?"

Indeed a cheerful whistling could be heard getting closer and closer.

"Yes it is." The woman smirked slightly before straightening.

The door flew open with bang as a person on the other side kicked it hard. However the hinges couldn't take that sort of strain and they gave, the door collapsed to the floor with an almighty crash.

A tall handsome man stood in the doorway. He smiled at the staring children and raised a hand.

"Yo. My itty bitty genin team here? Ahh Rin chan…! Which of the babies are yours?" The man swaggered forward obviously exaggerating.

Rin shot him a very unimpressed look. "Obito you're here to guide the 'babies' to becoming shinobi."

The man, Obito, was obviously Sasuke's cousin. They shared the same aristocratic bone structure and spiky black hair but Obito had the grace and confidence Sasuke didn't and more importantly he had a sense of humour!

Obito laughed and looked around until his eyes locked onto Team 7. His grin broadened and he crossed the distance between in a few loping strides.

"Team 7?" He asked rhetorically and then barrelled on before any of them answered. "Meet me at Training Ground 7 tomorrow morning at …say 6. I'm frankly too busy today to test you so I'll do it tomorrow." He smiled down at the three of them as if he had not admitted to blowing them off for hours.

"Sasuke, Naruto legally you can't come home tonight." He changed track just as fast talking to the boys who blinked in surprise, "You can't live with an untested Sensei, it's an actual rule." He sighed dramatically, "It's very troublesome so just camp together at your third member's house kay?" He bent suddenly so that his face was level with Sakura's. "Hello!" He greeted her cheerfully, "I'm Uchiha Obito your new sensei, these two will fill you in about me, take everything with a grain of salt and remember if you're late because you're helping an old woman cross the street it's all fine." He grinned slyly at her then straightened to his full height.

"I'll be off kids, remember Training Ground 7 at 6. Ta ra." He wiggled his fingers, ruffled all their hair once and was gone in a poof of smoke.

None of them had even had the chance to open their mouths.

Naruto and Sasuke rolled their eyes obviously used to the whirlwind named Uchiha Obito.

"Is he always like this?" She asked in slight awe.

"Yup." Naruto confirmed.

"Do you want to know why he's blowing us off tonight?" Sasuke spoke in disgust, "He's taking advantage of the law which says we can't come home tonight."

Sakura thought about that for a second then went red.

Naruto laughed at her face.

"He's great." Naruto spoke fondly, "But anyway do you mind us staying the night? We can always camp out in a training field."

She shook her head still in shock from her new sensei. "No it's fine, as you said. We're a team now. You both live with him?"

Sasuke nodded, "He's the only member of the family I can stand." There was irony in his tone but she couldn't quite place it.

"He took me in after I was orphaned." Naruto explained, "Apparently he knew my mum." He rubbed the back of his head and laughed, "You'll really like him." It was the genuine honesty in his voice that finally melted the last of her doubts towards Obito.

….###########################...

"Mum." She called out pushing the door open, "We have guests."

There was no reply, she beckoned for Naruto and Sasuke to come in and shut the door behind them.

Naruto peered around curiously, Sasuke shut the door to the silent house with a click.

"No one home?" There was rare sympathy in his voice. He knew what it meant to have no one home to celebrate when a child graduated.

"It doesn't matter." Sakura replied shortly, "Come in, I'll cook something up."

Instead Naruto steered her towards her own dining room. "Oh no Sakura-chan." He chirped, "We can't impose that much, leave the cooking to me!" Sasuke didn't say anything so she assumed that wasn't another rule she had to watch out for with Naruto.

Sasuke swivelled on his heel taking in the decorated room. It was very cluttered; books, vases, pens and paper piling up on the sides. Pictures of abstract colours dotted the walls and on one wall an enormous swooping bookshelf took up the entire space. A creaking dining table was in the middle with train tracks made out of toys ran across the surface and every so often the clock on the wall would click oddly.

She had thought he'd feel uncomfortable with the silent house but he settled right in, perching on a chair. Naruto disappeared into the kitchen chatting small talk and she pointed out where most of the things were.

"Why did you want to become a kunoichi Sakura?" Sasuke asked with his eyes closed.

She flicked a look over her shoulder, "I'd rather not be the lower class citizen in a ninja village." She replied simply.

He smirked.

"You?"

"It's a family thing." He shrugged, "Gotta knock Obito on his ass sooner or later."

She half smiled, it was clear the dark haired boy was making an effort. "Naruto?"

The blond boy poked his head out of the kitchen, "Oh I want to be Hokage." Then he promptly disappeared to the sound of clashing pans.

Sasuke looked around the room, "Is it usually like this? Or is your graduation day just special?" He asked quietly.

Sakura sighed, "She doesn't like ninja ok? That's all, it's nothing major." Sasuke was staring at her with intense eyes over the back of the chair.

"Family should value family." He muttered quietly. "Obito taught me that."

They fell into a silence, Sakura not willing to discuss the issue.

"Well this is cheerful." A man's voice interrupted from the doorway.

Sakura whirled around, how had someone even got in? And that voice did sound familiar?

Obito leant against the doorway, Jonin jacket and black trousers giving him a professional image despite his fly away spiky hair.

"Sensei." She spoke surprised. "How did-"

"Get in?" He smirked, "Really Sakura, I _am _a Jonin." He plopped down in one of the spare seats and brought up an ankle over a knee and leant back.

"Obito." Sasuke was startled, you could tell by the slight change in tone. "I thought you had a date."

Obito cracked open one dark eye, "Sasuke-chan." He groaned, "Please be a little more intelligent, if I went on a date on your graduation, Rin would never go out with me and frankly that's quite worrying. And plus it gives us some leeway_._" He leant forward suddenly deadly serious. His cheerful air vanished and a fully trained Jonin was sitting at Sakura's table.

Meanwhile Naruto had wandered into the room when he had heard Obito's voice and he took up a spare seat at Sakura's side.

"You have a plan Obito-Nii?" He asked quietly.

Obito's gaze flicked to Sakura.

"She knows the basics." Sasuke interrupted.

"Good." Obito quirked a slight smile, "You're looking out for each other already."

Sakura twisted her fingers, "Is this about this team has a lot of political pressure riding on it?"

"Yes." Obito said simply, "I don't know you. I don't know if you can handle the pressure. I don't know if these two can handle it. But I have no choice, one way or another I have to get you to Chunin as fast as possible." His eyes were dark and serious, "Sakura-chan, if you think you want to switch teams this is your only chance." He stressed softly, "After that you're stuck I'm afraid."

"Why are you giving me a choice?" Sakura asked quietly. "You could have just focused on those two and ignored me so I stumbled along after them."

Obito smiled sadly, "Ah but I like to think I'm a better man than that." He ran a hand through his hair, "As long I'm your sensei, I will not favour anyone above the team as a collective. Meaning the bastards on the council can screw themselves, they can tell me what goals to achieve but they _cannot _tell me how to get to them." A grim tone rang through his voice and it was a stark contrast to the whirlwind of earlier.

It was more than she had expected. Naruto had been right, she could feel herself starting to like the older Nin.

"I want to be on this team." She spoke out loud.

Naruto whooped and Sasuke nearly cracked an expression.

Obito sat back with a smile. "Oh good, that means I don't have to return this."

He slid three pieces of metal across the table with a finger. Naruto picked his up first.

"Hey, we have headbands already." He spoke in confusion turning it this way and that.

"They have a special function don't they?" Sasuke asked sounding oddly excited.

"Yup." Obito grinned, hair falling over an eye. "If you're ever in trouble, wipe some blood on the leaf and the other headbands will freeze up signifying danger. Unfortunately." He admitted, "There's no way of telling who set it off but you'll be warned that someone is in trouble."

"Aren't these blood locked?" Naruto asked idly, "You probably had loads of chance to get mine and Sasuke's blood, how did you get Sakura's?"

"_Jonin._" Obito sing songed. "This really is fun, I see why sensei did it all the time now."

Sakura stared at him. "Sensei, that does not make me feel safe at all…"

Obito waved a hand dismissively, "Snuck in a backwards kunai in your pouch yesterday so when you drew it out, you bled and I was the instructor who gave you the bandage and I stole the kunai back."

The boys did not seem surprised at all. So she swallowed and accepted the explanation.

"So we all know you're going to be one of the passed teams so I'm debating just giving you the test for the hell of it." Obito admitted resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

"You're really taking this seriously." Naruto commented. Obito gave him a strange wistful smile, "My sensei did the same for me." He answered softly, "I'm just repaying that debt to the next generation…Uh Sakura mind channelling some chakra down all your limbs for me? Don't release it though."

What would that do? It wasn't like he could see the chakra could he?

Obito's eyes flashed a bloody scarlet and she nearly screamed. In her kitchen with his face in shadow, the red eyes added to his image as a devil.

"You didn't tell her about the Sharingan!" Her sensei growled at the boys.

"Did we not?" Naruto blinked sounding sheepish.

Obito sighed and whacked Sasuke up around the head, "Brat. I can understand Naruto forgetting to do it."

"I just wanted to see her reaction." Sasuke confessed without a hint of shame.

Obito rubbed the corner of his eyes for patience. "This is the Uchiha Kekkei genkei." He slipped into a bored authorative tone and Sakura felt like she should be making notes, "It's called the Sharingan and it has the ability to copy jutsus, cast genjutsu and predict motion in a sense. I'm not going to harm you so can we try the exercise again Sakura-chan?"

She felt her chakra path work light up as she guided her chakra around once, it wasn't that hard at all. It was relatively easy to control. So Obito and Sasuke were two of the three holders of the Sharingan, who was the third?

Obito raised one eyebrow. Was something wrong? He shot her a measuring look and looked away.

"Was whatever you did ok?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh it's fine." He sounded a bit too gleeful for her liking, "I've just realised I've ended up with the chakra capacity _and _the chakra control monster on my team."

Sasuke choked on his drink.

"That's great!" Naruto yelled swinging her around suddenly by the wrists, "If you have a talent of your own, they'll need a _really _good excuse to split this team up if worst comes to worst."

She grasped his hands to stop herself from spinning away, "You're the chakra capacity monster?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Most people usually guess Sasuke but yeah it's me."

"You're just too energetic to be anything but pumped full of chakra." She responded flatly.

"That's enough." Obito sounded to be fighting laughter and she found herself being plucked off the floor and back onto her seat by her collar. "Right this goes for all of you. Don't go talking casually with other Nin, doesn't matter if they're people you know or if they seem trustworthy. Spies rarely seem untrustworthy. This includes even Rin you two." His eyes sharpened to razor sharp points, "I love that woman but as a Nin first and foremost she is an unknown variable."

They both nodded seriously.

Obito turned to her, "Where is your mother Sakura? I need to talk to her." There was a strange note in his voice. "Why is all the heating off and food cold? Why is she not here to congratulate you?"

"She's busy." She defended.

Obito raised both eyebrows coolly, "I see. And how …long…will she be busy?"

"It's not her fault!" She cried out the judging tone in Obito's voice rubbing the wrong way.

Obito stared at her coolly. "Why are there no pictures of you in the house?" He inquired lightly almost pleasantly, "You'd think there's be at least one; on the mantel piece, by a bed or something."

Sasuke winced and pulled Naruto away into the kitchen. She was left alone with Obito.

"Sakura." Obito spoke gently, "Sometimes civilians have a difficult time grasping their child is now a shinobi. It's nothing to be ashamed of but as your sensei I do need to know."

"Why?"

"Because they don't understand." Obito's words were carefully worded, "They don't understand the gap between their world and yours and they try to apply their logic and motivations to you. It ends terribly, trust me." His eyes flicked to the bookshelf.

"Stand up for me." He ordered suddenly springing to his feet, eyes intent on the shelves.

She blinked and did so.

"Now reach the highest you can." He ordered bizarrely. She tip toed stretched as far as she could. Obito marked the place she could reach, then strode to the bookshelf and brushed his fingers along the shelf higher than that height. They came away caked in dust.

"How funny." He smiled at her, "All the heights you can reach are spotless, the heights you can't are filthy."

She shrugged.

His eyes were suddenly very, very cold and she felt like shivering.

"Sakura." He asked calmly, "When was the last time you saw your mother?"

There was a clatter from the kitchen and a yelled whisper and then a sound of sandal hitting flesh.

"Sa-ku-ra." Obito spoke dangerously. "This is not an optional question."

She mumbled the answer.

His eyebrows flew up, "Three weeks ago!?" He sighed explosively and paced up and down obviously restraining his anger. "Pack your things." He snapped at her during the pacing.

"I'm staying here." She dug in her heels defiantly. He glared at her and it was quite terrifying.

"You are not." He hissed in a low voice. "I am not leaving a twelve year old child to live alone."

"I'm not alone." She clenched her fists, "She comes back!"

"For _how long?_" He didn't raise his voice but she flinched as if he had shouted at her.

"For Kami's sake." He hissed explosively muscles tensing. "Why do I always get the stubborn ones with family problems?"

"You said legally Sasuke and Naruto can't go back tonight." She reminded him, "They have to stay here so there's no point."

He laughed mirthlessly, "One flaw in that dear." He rubbed the bridge of his nose, "All I have to do is say you passed as an official team and you're one whether you pass the test or not. So they can go home and I do have the authority to drag you there you realise?"

"That's kidnapping." She tensed all over.

"Senseis have permission to do whatever we like to our students." He refuted flatly, "As long we don't turn missing Nin or permanently injure them we're good. And it's all legal."

"I'm not going." She crossed her arms.

"Sakura." He strode over so that he loomed over her, "You are a target now. In this empty house you are _vulnerable_. My house is a shinobi's house, you will have a safe place to relax, whereas here you will have to watch your every move. There could be cameras slipped in anywhere and you couldn't know."

She paused. She had not thought of that.

"But if she comes back?" She asked hesitantly.

Obito sensed her wavering resolve and pounced. "I'll leave a note." He shrugged, "With chakra so that it can't be changed. She'll know that you're safe."

He flashed her a kind smile. He was planning no such thing. The moment Sakura's mother touched that paper it would send an alarm ringing at the child protection agency and the woman would be arrested and since this was a shinobi village and she was neglecting a kunoichi, a grand student of the fourth no less, she'd probably never see her daughter again. And Sakura would be free of the burden of her civilian mother.

His smile took on a malicious edge but Sakura missed it completely.

"So are we going home?" Naruto poked his head out cautiously.

….##########################...

"Right." Obito stopped outside his house, "You two get her comfortable, I haven't registered you lot yet so I can't step inside the property until I have. The meeting still stands by the way. If I come back to find it a flaming smoking wreck I'm making you run laps until it makes a ditch around Konoha." He poked all of them in the forehead and popped away.

"He's really kind." Sakura murmured.

"Told ya." Naruto shrugged. "He's like that. Harming family is a really easy way to piss him off."

"She wasn't harming me." She protested.

Sasuke scoffed and pushed open the door with his back, "Emotional neglect is still harm Sakura. Welcome to the Uchiha compound."

"We might get renamed as Team Uchiha at this rate." Naruto joked, "Seeing as half of us are Uchiha and the other half are Uchiha wards." He smiled at her and beckoned her in.

The house was cosy and it was even messier than her own. But the things scattered were of a decidedly different nature. Kunai and all ninja weapons were neatly put in rows at the side as were scrolls. Everything else; clothes, food, decorations, products and good knows what else were scattered everywhere. It was cosy but the stench of male was overpowering.

Sasuke pulled her by the elbow to point out a white door. "That's Obito's personal study, _never _go in there. He keeps village secrets in there and he would have to execute us if we snuck in and glimpsed them."

She stared at him. Execute?

He nodded grimly. "Obito's room isn't off limits if you need something from him. He will kill you if you need something and you were too shy to go in though. Other than that yeah we leave it alone." He pointed out two room, "Those are mine and Naruto's. Yeah you can come in, yeah you really should knock first and we'll do the same to yours. Uhh…take the one next to Naruto. Decorate it any way you like." He finished and walked off to the fridge apparently done.

Naruto rolled his eyes and hopped up on the frame of the couch. "There's no curfew." He told her cheerfully, "Obito's of the opinion if you're able to function the next day you can do pretty much anything. Training ground's out there." He jerked his head, "We might end up using it a lot to get some privacy. Rin drops by most nights, she really doesn't trust Obito on his own with two kids. Well now that we have a girl he's got a lecture on feminine lifestyles to look forward to." He snickered. "Err what else." He pursed his lips, "Oh no bringing friends back without his permission."

"That's fine." She murmured. "I'm not staying here forever."

He shot her a totally innocent look.

"Once Uchihas make their minds up, there's no way to change them." He told her lightly.

She crossed her arms and half turned away. A smile tugged at his mouth.

"Oh Obito-Nii _never _brings back women." His speech was heavy with meaning, "He might joke around and say he might but he won't. So if you do see one she's an imposter. Rin's a regular and so are ANBU, just leave them alone and they'll stay out of your way. Some other Jonin do drop by, ahh you'll pick it up." He waved a hand. "Questions?"

She shook her head and turned her attention to the photos on the wall. There were several of Obito, Sasuke and Naruto. One of a young Obito and what looked like his parents, and a team photo with a clearly recognisable Obito.

"That's Obito." She murmured, "And that's Rin right?" The girl was pretty with elements of the woman she would become, she shifted her gaze to the third member. Fly away silver hair hung over one eye, a mask covered the lower half of his face and what could be seen of it was serious.

"He looks dangerous." She didn't realise she spoke out loud until Naruto hmmed in agreement.

"He's Hatake Kakashi." His voice was quiet, "He was on Obito's team until he turned missing Nin. Obito's got this dream of tracking him down and shaking him until he fesses up why he did it."

"One of the Fourth's students became a missing nin?" She asked in shock.

Naruto cracked a smile, "Crazy isn't it?"

**What do you guys think? I have a plan for this story and I'm gauging interest. Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. For all of you who are waiting for Kakashi …**

All of them were at the training ground at 6 the next morning. Obito wasn't there yet, so they settled down and yawned, to get the last bit of sleep out of their system. Naruto wordlessly offered Sakura a cereal bar, the normally cheerful boy grumpy with lack of sleep. He and Sasuke had stayed up late last night, challenging each other to some sort of game, while she had retired early, exhausted by the long day.

Sasuke sat a few feet away against a stump of a tree, eyes intent and flicking everywhere in the clearing. Shaking his head to stop Sakura from talking, he motioned to his ears. Oh, he was listening to something else? Naruto's gaze settled over him and an exasperated look flitted around his eyes before disappearing as quickly as it had come.

He and Sasuke shared an intense conversation in finger signs, completely forgetting Sakura was there. Naruto snapped his fingers suddenly in Sakura's direction, cut his fingers sharply across his eye line and held up three fingers.

So three people were watching them?

How on earth had they realised this? She couldn't hear or see anything. She shifted slightly to strain her ears.

"Seven actually," Obito's voice corrected idly. Their sensei stomped into the clearing, deliberately making as much noise as a rampaging animal. He grinned at them all, "Think they've got the message yet?"

Sasuke released a sigh, "Obito, I thought we were meant to be subtle."

"Oh we are!" Obito kicked a tree several times, "It's just that they can out subtle you a million times right now so, first lesson guys, pay attention. Play to your strengths."

There came several crashes and loud booming sounds from around them, the earth shook slightly, and Sakura felt her ears pop under the pressure.

"Was that really necessary, Jonin Uchiha?" An annoyed voice cut in from above their heads. A woman was perched in the tree. Instead of a Jonin jacket the woman had bandages wrapped around a red dress. Her hands were long and elegant, and they braced her fall as she leapt down in a swirl of leaves. The last thing the genin noted were her awfully familiar eyes. They were the same scarlet as Obito's had been the day before, but she realised after a while that they lacked the black tomoe.

"Kurenai," Obito's mouth curled into a grin. "I had no idea you were here at all. Are you finally getting sweet on me? If you've lowered yourself to spying…All you needed to do was ask sweetie. This goes for all of you lot," he yelled back into the under growth.

The woman's lip curled. "If you're quite done, the deadline for submitting the official teams was yesterday. Call yourself a Jonin sensei?"

"Oh, but does it matter?" Obito purred, "We all know what's going to happen. In fact, Naruto did you give Sakura that cereal bar?"

Naruto nodded.

"Well," he announced, "For showing teamwork between teammates, I officially promote Team 7 to an official genin squad. We're done here." He smiled at Kurenai and there was an edge to it.

Kurenai threw the scroll at his face.

"You have two hours," she declared coolly. "Get it done properly, Jonin."

Obito pouted playfully, "You really should use my name after you stalked me Kurenai. It's very contradictory." A twinkle shone in his dark eyes.

"_I will send Gai next time._" Kurenai's whisper would have frozen the clearing if it could have.

Obito laughed and waved her off with the scroll in one hand. Flicking it open, he scanned through it.

"Oh, Kami," he swore suddenly, "That bitch put it all in code."

Naruto rolled his eyes, sharing a meaningful glance with Sasuke. "That's what you get, Obito-nii," he told him exasperatedly.

Sasuke kneaded his forehead, "I know she's distant family, Obito, but really, do you have to flirt with her every time you see her? No wonder she doesn't like you."

So the red ringed eyes were related to the Sharingan!

Other than that, there wasn't much of a familial connection between Sasuke and the woman. Obito chuckled, grimaced at the scroll, and stuffed it in a pouch.

"Right, line up, line up." He tapped his foot until they did so and produced two bells from his pouch with a flourish. "I've already passed you, so I won't take that back. But if you fail this test, you're going to be doing several charity work projects," he smiled slightly cruelly. "You can imagine, things like helping out at the old civilians home, babysitting, weeding, you get the idea."

The three of them looked at him in horror.

"What do we need to do?" Sakura asked, seeing as they were under a time limit.

Obito thrust the bells in her direction and they jangled softly. "This," he announced, "Is a sacred test passed down by my sensei, and his sensei before him, all the way back to the First Hokage himself. But the normal test's not going to cut it. Here, catch." He tossed the bells in her direction. She caught them smoothly and examined them in more detail.

"Nice bells," Naruto didn't sound very impressed, "Do we have to tie them around a cat's neck or something?"

Obito opened his mouth to answer, then paused looking thoughtful. "Yeah…maybe later, not a bad idea, Naruto. No, your test is to stop me from taking the bells back." He held up a finger, "I am a Jonin," he bragged, "So any weapons are allowed, any techniques you can think of you can use." Another finger joined the first, "You can go anywhere in the village but you cannot ask for help." His eyes shone mischievously. "For every bell I have or you lose, you have to hand a team mate over as a hostage. If you land a hit on me, you can have a hostage back. If you land a hit on me, and you have all three team members, you have an extra minute to run without me going after you." He looked up at the sun. "Two hours guys, good luck…Go!"

All of the genin jumped in different directions. The boys skidded to a halt and spun around to follow after the running, weaving, Sakura. Obito let them go, he'd give them five minutes, just to give them a chance. He snickered softly into his palm and drew the real bells out of his pocket. He hung them conspicuously on a low hanging tree branch. There, now he didn't have any bells, but neither did his team. He chuckled openly and swaggered off to drag back two of his genin.

Hmm, choices, choices. He really should drag back Naruto and Sasuke, to prove to the rude eavesdroppers he was capable of handling those two if they got out of control. But was it fair to let Sakura face him alone? He hummed under his breath and walked off, not bothering to hide the sound of his footsteps.

…..###########################...

Sasuke and Naruto motioned for Sakura to stop after five minutes of blind running through the village.

"He knows anywhere we might think of," Sasuke spoke sharply, not wasting time on being nice, "So you pick a place and we head there."

"He can track us down pretty fast, though," Naruto warned, peering out behind a wall, "So keep a list of places in your head and we'll move around quickly."

Sakura tucked the bells around a bandage and shifted more bandages so that the small bells were completely covered. "Won't he think of that, if he's as good as you say he is?" She asked reasonably. As she was alone on a prodigal team, assuming the opponent knew everything she did made her either more likely to evade them or more likely to fall into a momentous trap. She hadn't quite made up her mind which.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. "He might," Naruto allowed, "But then he might think we thought of that and compensated for it."

There was a horrified silence.

"You kiddies look like you're in trouble." A man lounging on a bench not far away from them called out. He shifted a stick between his teeth and tilted his head in greeting.

"We're fine," Sasuke spoke shortly, "Excuse us." He lifted a hand to herd the other two away.

"Hmm, your headbands are still so bright," the man murmured seemingly lost in memory. "Those were the good days."

"You're a ninja?" Naruto turned slightly.

The man's eyes flicked to the blond boy. "Should you really be wasting time on a timed assessment?" He asked curiously. Naruto flushed.

"I never really thought it fair you know." The man shrugged. "Did you know over the last thirty years the pass rate has been a constant 33 and a third percent?"

Sakura paused an awful sensation gnawing away at her stomach. "Constant?" She whispered, "Even with different numbers of graduates, senseis and situations?"

"Even then," The man rested his head on his hand, "_Always _a third."

That couldn't happen naturally. Could not! The senseis went individually to register, they couldn't have talked to each other and told each other who was passing whose test, but if only a third passed every time then did that mean it was rigged? The senseis decided beforehand who to pass and who to fail? Obito had said it himself, their team was destined to pass no matter what. Did that mean there were other people in her class who deserved to pass but didn't? Was there some other person more skilled than Sakura who should have been on the team and passed but had failed due to some cruel luck? The tests were just a cover. She breathed quickly. It didn't matter if the team did well or not in the test, the senseis would minutely adapt the test so that the results fitted the outcome they had decided before hand!

It left her feeling oddly trapped, like her own achievements didn't count for anything, and, with a quick glance sideways, she reminded herself that no, they didn't. Not on this team.

"Pinky's got it." The man shrugged playfully. "I do wonder how long you can last riding on the skills of the other two," the tone was light but the words were suddenly cruel and sharp. "And you two, Blondie and Broody, I wonder how you'll explain to her loved ones it was your fault that her sensei neglected her and as a result she died."

Sakura reared back as if she had been slapped. Died? She hadn't even considered that a possibility.

"Shut up!" Naruto snarled, fists clenching, but he did not say _one_ word against the possibility, Sakura realised, with a dawning horror.

The man laughed.

"Uchiha-kun," his tone suddenly teasing, "Cat got your tongue?"

Sasuke was pale but, like Naruto, not one word of defence crossed his lips.

"Of course it's easy to see," the man waved a hand dismissively, "You two have been childhood friends for years. It's quite obvious who you'd save if both the other two was in danger of being cut down. How does it feel to go up against such a wall?" He smirked at Sakura. "Such loyalty…you don't see it much anymore. Such a pity it doesn't extend to the whole team, no?" He stood up and brushed dust off his trousers with a sigh.

This was a fully trained ninja.

Capable of wreaking havoc with their morale and minds with a few well-chosen words.

None of them could find any words to counter the man and a gleam of satisfaction flashed in the man's eyes.

"Well that's my break over," the man muttered, "Kurenai senpai is going to have my head, I just know it." His lips twisted into a friendly smile, it was quite unnerving how the emotion behind it seemed so genuine. "_Best _of luck itty bitty brats," he pointed behind them, "If you need tips on how a _real_ genin team acts just look at the InoShikaCho teams."

"We are a real genin team," Naruto protested, without much fire. His hand brushed over his headband.

"Oh, if you think that bit of metal makes you a genin, you are so wrong," the man told him softly, almost sadistically. "Do you think just anyone who wears the headband is your comrade, brat? Broody should understand well enough."

Sasuke went dangerously quiet. "You are disturbing a graduation test," his voice was pure ice, "Leave."

The man eyed them all amusedly and, with an indulgent air, he turned on his heel and walked away. It didn't feel like much of a victory. Sakura did not even want to meet her team mate's eyes. Had the man not just dragged out her insecurities to the surface and poured molten acid on them?

"Fuck," Sasuke kneaded his forehead.

There was nothing to say. They all knew every single word that had been was true.

"Ah," She spoke up, forcibly choosing to forget about it until after the test was over, "I can think of a place sensei won't think we would have gone to."

Two pairs of eyes zeroed in on her.

"Back to the flat?" Came two voices in unison.

She blinked, that wasn't such a bad idea at all. "I meant back to the Academy and pretend we failed the test. We can hide the bells in some random student's pouch and…" She trailed off suddenly aware of the considering looks the two boys were throwing her.

"I like it," Sasuke announced, his tone took on a faint chilly edge. "That wasn't your only reason, am I right? You wanted to see how many teams had passed, no?" There was obvious judgement radiating from his person, "Tch." He turned away, "I had thought you better than to fall to simple mind tricks like that."

She felt a burn of fury and injustice in her chest, "You fell for it too," she retorted sharply.

"We _all_ fell for it," Naruto cut in, uncharacteristically sharply. "Sasuke stop baiting her, Sakura stop rising to his bait, we need to hurry up before Obito-Nii catches up to us, or do you guys really want to weed gardens for weeks?"

Sakura looked away first but shot a glare at Sasuke as soon as Naruto wasn't looking. The dark haired boy's eyes hadn't dimmed one iota in their disdain. It seemed the man's words had brought out his subconscious doubts about the team.

"Guys," Naruto stressed, and there was a flash of frustration across his face.

"No," Sasuke replied calmly, "Antagonism is good. We are a failed team are we not?" He brushed past her and she could almost pretend to have not heard his whisper to Naruto, "_And we all know whose fault it would have been._"

…..##############################...

"You…failed?" Iruka stared down at the team sounding a bit lost.

"Yes," Sakura repeated shortly, temper fraying. "It isn't really that uncommon." A host of glares pinned her back.

Naruto hid a chuckle in a cough and turned it into a coughing fit as Iruka looked at him suspiciously.

Their teacher shook his head, "Alright, sit down. For today you won't be segregated, but as soon as term starts again your team will be broken up. I hope you learned from your failure and I trust that it won't be repeated."

They nodded stiffly and took a seat noting that, ironically, they had all ended up in the seats in which they had first met.

Sakura took a quick headcount. There had been nine teams made, other than them there were eighteen children in the room. Her heart sank, three teams including them had passed. Exactly a third.

"Everyone thought you would pass," a boy slyly commented to Sasuke, "What happened genius?"

Sasuke fixed him with a cold look, "None of your business."

The boy held his hands up in a placating gesture, "Geez man, calm down." He glared, "You probably failed due to that attitude."

"What did you say?" Naruto snapped from the other side. "You probably failed because your sensei couldn't stand being within ten feet of your slimy mouth."

The boy's face twisted into a snarl and he whirled to face Naruto, "Stay out of this, Uchiha pet," he bit out.

There was an uproar. Sakura turned her head at just the right time to see Sasuke grip the boy by the collar and physically haul him up. The chair and table fell with a crash and bounced off the tiles. Pencils and paper flew everywhere with soft fluttering and clattering sounds. Cries of shock bounced off the walls.

"_Never_ say that in my hearing, ever again," Sasuke spoke softly, dangerously and for the first time she thought she saw a bit of a cold, terrifying Obito sensei flicker in his features. The boy flailed and choked in Sasuke's grip.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka sensei roared from the front, "Cease your disgraceful behaviour this instant!" The man looked furious.

Sasuke flicked a glance to the side, thought better of it, and reluctantly released the boy. Iruka was upon him like a blood hound.

"Is it satisfying to tease people who cannot stand up to you Sasuke?" The teacher's voice was iron hard.

"No." Sasuke bit out.

"Is it fun to torment people when you are stronger than them?" The teacher continued ruthlessly.

"No." The boy snarled again face down.

"Sensei it was my fault too." Naruto half stood.

"_Sit down!_" Iruka hissed so venomously Naruto sat down leaving an afterimage. "I don't care whose fault it was, losing control is unforgivable. Sasuke lost control and therefore he is the one to blame. We are Ninja!" He turned a hard look around the class, "If you lose control on the field, you will _die_. You will die, your team will die, and your mission will be a failure."

He turned back to Sasuke, "Does it fill some sort of hole in you, Sasuke, when you hurt people?"

"No!" The boy was white lipped and he trembled in suppressed rage. Naruto looked away from the humiliation. Whispers started up amongst the rest of the class.

"You raise your voice at me when I teach you about self-control?" Iruka's voice was slow and mocking, "Hail the graduating genius." Even Sakura looked away. She may have been angry with Sasuke but he did not deserve this.

Sasuke took in a deep breath and exhaled. When he opened his eyes they were eerily blank. All emotion was wiped from his face, all the tension left his frame.

"I understand, sensei," he spoke dully. Iruka nodded once in approval and turned back to the board.

"Control," the teacher spoke normally again, in a lecturing tone, "Is a daily part of a ninja's life. A ninja must have control over his life, his subordinates, and most of all, himself. It is control which allows you to work with the man you hate or the woman you love without risking the mission. Some of you may come to realise this in the next few years." His eyes flashed dangerously. "Ninjas seek control in all aspects of their life, even over others… If you are talking to older, more experienced Nin, rest assured, they have found your weak point and they will have control over the conversation. For that instance in time, they will have control over you."

Sakura's hands tightened almost painfully. That man had had total control over their talk, they couldn't even come up with a counter argument. She had just stood there feeling his words beat her into submission.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "You didn't move to defend Sasuke." There was a question and a faint betrayal in his eyes.

"Did you move to defend me when that man was talking?" Sakura breathed back feeling very hollow.

There was disappointment and shame warring in Naruto's eyes and he turned away firmly. Great their little unit had splintered thoroughly into them versus her. She ran a finger over the bump of the bells against her leg. Hadn't they all been getting along well an hour ago?

She palmed the bells and discretely pressed them to Sasuke's hand. He looked at her in mild surprise.

"If you are so good," she told him without a trace of the envy she felt, "Then you look after them."

His fingers closed around the bells but he nodded once.

A cold breeze blew on her neck.

"Sakura," Iruka called from the front, "Shut the window, seeing as you're distracted anyway."

She nodded and leant out of the window to pull the open window closed. Funny, she could have sworn they were closed before.

There was a very cold line against her throat. She froze in place fingers still outstretched.

Obito's hand snaked around the back of her neck stopping her from moving back.

"Tsk, letting your guard down?" He asked teasingly, as if he wasn't holding a lethally sharp weapon to her neck. "Good idea, I admit, the boys would _never _come up with the idea to willingly humiliate themselves by admitting they failed something."

"Sensei." She tried to speak without moving her mouth too much and waved at his kunai.

"Oh what, this?" Obito sounded honestly surprised. "This is just for show, don't worry, just watch."

Show?

She was suddenly yanked through the window with a screaming yelp. She just caught a sight of wide eyes on her team mates as her vision turned a clothy black. Now she couldn't Kawarimi out! His hand was fisted painfully in her hair and the kunai was still there, like a steel insect crawling up the line of her neck. She froze, struggling when she couldn't see was the height of stupid.

"Cut your hair," Obito murmured idly, before she heard two thumps on the grass in front of her.

"Uchiha-san!" Iruka's voice rang out, shocked, but Obito must have done something because she didn't hear the man again, only the sound of the window closing.

"Obito-Nii," Naruto's voice was cautious, "Let her go."

Sasuke snorted. "It's part of the test dobe. It's a trade, right?"

"Can't be," Naruto sounded perplexed, "If we hand a bell over then Sakura is then a hostage by the rules." Obito seemed content to let them stew for a little bit.

"I'll make you a deal," Obito's voice was smooth and self-assured, "I'm honestly impressed with your plan so far. Hand over both bells, I'll release Sakura, and you two can try for ten minutes to take the bells back from me."

"We can take him if we work together." Naruto didn't sound convinced himself.

She made a little hand motion, like she wanted to speak. The pressure on her throat lessened.

"Just those two?"

There was a noise like Obito had suppressed a chuckle.

"You'll get in the way," came a short answer from Sasuke. "You're not used to working with us."

She could practically feel Obito's eyebrow rise. "What a hasty answer, Sasuke," he murmured, without giving much away. "What do you say?" The pressure was back on her throat and was that her imagination or was Obito pressing with the dull side now? Had she done something right? She didn't imagine he would make a mistake like that.

"Fine," Naruto answered, "Let her go and we'll settle this." There was a whistle and a jingle as Obito caught the bells in one hand.

She felt her heart pumping. Since she was closest to Obito she had the vaguest feeling his whole posture was giving off amusement.

"Kai." Obito spoke wickedly and from the gasps from the boys the bells were decidedly not bells.

"What!" Sasuke started, "But-"

"Those aren't bells!" Naruto sounded a bit angry.

There were two thuds as two objects fell to the ground. "Do you think I'm stupid?" Obito asked. "You thought you could trade two worthless items for Sakura's release? Is she worth that little to you that you would risk her life?"

Cold fear touched the back of her neck. He wouldn't kill her would he?

"You won't kill her," Naruto spoke confidently, "But I swear those were the bells we had!"

Obito shrugged, "Lie upon lie Naruto. You're digging yourself a deeper hole."

"This is your trick!" Sasuke spoke, a trace of confusion marring his tone. "You gave us the bells. You must have not given us the real bells."

There was an offended silence. "You think I would sabotage my own kids' test?" Obito sounded like his honour and all his ancestors' honour had been slighted by that comment.

There was a confused silence.

"Choices, choices, kids." Obito tapped out a rhythm on Sakura's head. "What to do…what to choose…"

"Fifty minutes," she heard one of them mutter.

"We can't get close while she's in danger," the other muttered.

"Oh what's this?" Obito sounded delighted, "I thought your sensei drilled into you that the mission comes first always? Do you intend to abandon Sakura and find the bells by running away for fifty minutes? You could, it's what you've been taught, you might just pass in the time you have."

"That's not right," Naruto shouted, "We can't leave a comrade behind!"

"You might not have a choice." Obito sounded slightly darker, with an edge to his voice. "What about you, Sasuke?"

There was a grumble.

"What?" Obito asked blankly.

"I can't leave someone behind who lives under the same roof as me," came a grudging answer.

"Well, ding dong, both of you fail basic Academy cardinal rules," Obito sounded entirely too happy. Was he mentally stable? "Well, I could sell that you just aren't mature enough to pass, if I swing it by the Hokage right," He mused.

Sakura tapped Obito's hand holding the kunai with a cold finger, obliging her, he lowered it.

"You said it," she croaked, "Back at home. All of you think alike. He's left the bells back in the training field. Go and get them!"

What would they do? Would they leave her and work as a unit to get those bells? Or would they try and get her out and risk not getting the bells? It was a sadistic choice.

"I should point out, at this point," Obito remarked, "The other two teams that passed breezed through their test."

Sensei was deliberately trying to cloud the boy's minds with feelings of rivalry. If they focused on what other people had done, they wouldn't be able to focus on what they had to do.

"That's enough from you, Sakura," he told her, too low for the boys to hear. "Stay put."

"Why do we care about them?" Sasuke's voice was unnaturally cold.

Naruto laughed lightly. "Are they important?" He asked curiously.

Sakura felt her heart jump in gladness, they hadn't fallen for it, and sink at the fact they did not seem to care to care about anyone outside of themselves. She had seen the two of them viciously stand up for each other, and even a bit for her, but they dismissed everyone else as unimportant?

What a small world they had.

"Hand over our kunoichi," Sasuke ordered. "She's useless, but as of this minute it's our job to make sure she doesn't get hurt."

She was very sure she had made a very confused squeak.

Sasuke had just gone from calling her useless and regarding her with disdain to demanding her back and declaring they would protect her.

"It might work a bit better," Obito spoke slowly, "If you didn't speak of her as a possession."

She felt a rush of affection towards Obito.

"Don't care." The clothy rustle sounded like Naruto had shrugged.

"So you choose to fail the mission I gave you?" Obito asked casually. "Weeks and weeks of humble chores?"

"Yes!" The two of them snapped.

"Do you agree with their decision, Sakura?" Obito asked her idly.

"No," she growled. "You can't chase after them and keep me hostage at the same time. Either way thy get the bells and negotiate after, or I get free."

"I can, actually." The kunai from her neck was removed and she felt her head being patted.

"You all fail your first mission," Obito declared coldly. A pressure pressed against the back of her eyes and her skin felt like it was prickling and crawling. She shivered in discomfort. Sensei sounded exactly like when he had discovered her mother wasn't regularly home.

"But…" Obito drew the word out and the tension heightened.

"You pass your test." The tension snapped like an elastic band. With a rustle the cloth slid off her eyes and she squeezed them shut to get used to the bright light.

"What?" Naruto asked blankly. "But we failed the mission."

Obito shook his head, "You could never have passed it. The bell test's main aim is to make you realise the team is more important than the objective," He explained. "You're put in threes to make you stronger. The moment you chose Sakura's wellbeing over the bells, and Sakura put the team over herself, was the minute you passed. You're still a flawed team, actually you're not much of a team at all, but the potential is there." He smiled at them and the pride shone for a second through his eyes.

"It was all a trick," Sasuke sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I was right with you not giving us the right bells."

"Yup," Obito beamed. "Be proud, that's the first time in history the traditional bell test had to be modified to fit a team." His eyes contained just a hint of nostalgia.

"What's the traditional bell test?" Sakura asked, rubbing her neck. Obito noticed and sent her an apologetic look.

"Basically I'd clip two bells to my belt and give you two hours to get them off me. The one who didn't get a bell would be told that they would go back to the Academy." Obito drawled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's designed to put team mate against team mate and force them to use team work. Only then does the sensei let the bells 'slip' from their guard. If they don't," he shrugged, "They all fail. _Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum._"

"So we passed on our own merit?" Sakura asked warily.

"Yes, yes," Obito waved a hand. "I would have taken you on, even if I didn't have orders to pass you no matter what."

A weight unfurled itself from her chest. She had passed on her own skills, not by riding on someone else's skills or by depending on people. A small smile curled her mouth. It was odd, Obito was teaching them because they had gone against what they had been taught. Would he shatter other things she still believed in?

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" Obito frowned, suddenly striding forward.

The boy blinked, "Controlling myself," he answered.

"Why?" Obito demanded. "Are you in danger that feeling your emotions could possibly kill you?"

Sasuke paused and stared at Obito.

"He got a lecture by Iruka sensei," Naruto told him, swinging his arms and rocking backwards and forwards on his heels. "It was brutal."

Obito groaned, "Bloody Academy. I'm gonna have to review everything they taught you."

Yup, Sakura thought in amusement. Obito would shatter several of their beliefs it seemed.

"Control is a double edged blade," Obito spoke, grasping Sasuke's face between his hands. "Yes, it is invaluable to everyday life, but too much control is dangerous. Locking away emotion is detrimental to mental health and it can burst out at the worst possible times…my team mate, Hatake Kakashi, had absurd self-control. One day he came home to see his father commit suicide in front of him and, as he stood in that blood, he turned to his sensei, smiled, and asked about dinner. A few years later he disappeared in the middle of a mission, cutting a bloody swathe through a bunch of Iwa Nin. I thought he would have killed me too but he gained control at the last second. He was never helped because no one knew how much he was suffering. Because of his _control_ he hid what he felt and we had no clue," He stressed. "I don't want to see that happen to you. Don't control yourself like that around your team, okay brat?"

There was an odd wobble to Sasuke's head as he nodded.

"Great!" Naruto stretched his arms in front of him. "Can we celebrate with ramen?"

"…Fine." Obito's voice had all the indications of a long suffering sensei.

Naruto whooped, grabbed Sasuke, moved to grab Sakura, swerved at the last second, and ran off.

She blinked.

"You're starting to enter their world," Obito told her, but his eyes were strangely sad.

"But, I haven't done anything," she told him, matter of factly.

He smiled. "I think that's the reason, you don't treat them differently."

"Why would I?" She asked confused.

Obito laughed, "Good question indeed! Why would you?" There was a moment where it seemed his dark eyes were seeing right through her, but then he blinked, and the moment was gone.

"This is a sight you should see." He half smiled, and pushed her towards the disappearing half of Team 7.

**He comes in the next chapter. ^.^ Sorry couldn't resist. Leave a review on the way out?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. At long last the Wave arc is finished and I'll update every weekend (except for this one as I'm abroad) so have this one early. It's more introspective than my normal work so give me some feedback?**

"Alright team!" Obito was too happy to wake them up.

Sasuke cracked open an eyelid stiff with sleep and peered up at his dark blur of a cousin.

"Obito-Nii…" Came a grumpy confused warning from the blond boy curling into his covers.

Sakura to her surprise woke instantly used to sleeping very lightly, just in case the outer door opened and she needed to get the key for the inner. She blinked at Obito then looked outside the window.

It was as dark outside as it was inside.

Three weeks had passed since they had passed the test and true to his word Obito hadn't made them do charity work. Instead they were doing the same jobs and getting paid a minimal wage! Obito had cackled for hours at the sight of them dirty, grimy and pissed off.

"_Ahh now. Don't complain." He had replied terribly amused to their death glares, "How else are we meant to get civilians to trust us?" With a crafty wink he had slipped back into mildly serious but helpful Obito then back to totally playful, infuriating Obito._

"If you don't get up this second, the lovely C rank I saved for you will go to Team 8 and you can drag the lake for rubbish again." Obito's lips twisted slightly as his team all but _leapt _from their futons and ran to get ready. He wasn't sure if he should stop them all from dragging their futons into each other rooms or not but since the boys were used to it and neither were rude enough to leave out the third member it had become a sort of tradition to walk into the three rooms and find two of them completely empty.

There seemed to be a desperation in all of them to become a team. He'd seen Naruto rubbing his thumbs together until they were red and blistering whenever something happened to cause even the mildest friction in the team. Sasuke seemed to choke back on his sarcastic comments in an attempt to not alienate Sakura and Sakura just agreed with whatever the boys proposed just to stop conflict. Needless to say it was failing miserably and the cooperative effort not to be antagonistic just seemed to increase tensions in the team itself.

Sakura had snapped at Naruto yesterday after he had accidently tripped her into the mud, Naruto and Sasuke seemed to subconsciously resent compensating for another person in their duo. He was sure that if either of them realised they felt that way they would be horrified but at the moment their team work was clenched and forced to his experienced eyes. Sasuke and Sakura was another can of worms altogether; Sasuke was making a genuine attempt to be less caustic to include Sakura and her agreeing what he said made him quite irritated. D ranks absolutely did not help.

Even their little tradition seemed to be born of a desire to try and force comradeship instead of letting it evolve naturally. Letting other Nin near his team at this point would be a psychological disaster and if he knows one thing it's that his fellow Jonin are arrogant, bored, bastards who would see nothing wrong with 'testing' the prodigy team to make them stronger.

_Rin sipped her drink with a tilt of her head. It shone deep ruby red in the light with flashes of brighter red in its depths._

"_You look frustrated." She commented slyly, "Dream team not working out?"_

_Obito snorted and ran a hand over his face tiredly._

"_You could say that." He admitted. "It's partly due to the fact they're aware of all the pressure you get me? They think they have to be a perfect team and succeed in whatever they do. And the fact they don't causes their self-esteem to fall and their desperation to rise and of course it's a vicious cycle."_

_Rin hmmed and crossed one leg over the other._

"_Break them." She suggested like it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do._

_Obito paused. "…What?" His tone was suddenly deathly serious and Rin found herself pinned by a dark pair of eyes._

_She didn't falter, "Show them that sometimes failure is the only option." She pointed with her glass to where the man knew there was a vicious scar from a mission going disastrously wrong. "And perhaps they'll relax and understand team work cannot be forced."_

Obito closed his eyes and leant against the wall of his house as he listened to his troublesome team get ready before he decided to get impatient.

"Sensei why are we going on a C rank at two in the morning?" His kunoichi's voice interrupted him.

"Why not?" He shrugged knowing it would infuriate her and the two boys eavesdropping on the conversation. He smiled at her, she huffed and moved off.

"Oh are we going to see other human beings now?" Sasuke propped his elbow on the bannister of the second floor looking down at his cousin. "It's been so long I might have forgotten how to be polite to strangers." A light mocking strain twisted through his words.

"I don't think the Chunin's will appreciate being woken at this hour. And ANBU definitely won't deal missions to genin now." Obito chuckled and spun a scroll on his finger. "Being the good sensei I am, I went and…acquired it. Since I know how eager you all are to stop those D ranks…right?"

Naruto strolled down the stairs wrapping bandages around his arms. "What are we doing? I swear Obito-Nii if your version of a C rank is to do D ranks _outside _of the village I am going to snap."

Obito laughed and the sound of it did make all of them smile slightly.

"No, no, no." He waved the scroll in their faces. "It's my team's first time outside the village, I picked a good one!"

"What are we doing?" Sasuke asked trying not to sound interested.

….###################################################...

"Tanzaki Gai." Naruto frowned, the dark shadows from the branches rippling over his face. "You're taking us to the Genin Cess Pit."

"Genin Cess Pit?" Sakura asked warily. That sounded fun.

"That's where all the failed genin have a tendency to gather." Sasuke filled her in apparently in a good mood at the prospect of a C rank. "And due to their partial training, they tend to stick together and form local yakuza."

"They're criminals?" Sakura asked tilting her head. The failed genin who had wanted to become part of the military became criminals instead? It seemed a bit ironic.

"They're fantastic informants, that's what they are." Obito called forward happily. "We leave them alone and sometimes look the other way, in return they keep crime rates low and the town safe."

"_Yakuza _keep the crime rate low." Sakura repeated the concept still not quite sinking in.

"We do re-evaluate the better ones after they mature out." Obito confessed unashamedly, "Can't get in the shinobi if they don't show discipline after all."

The four of them walked down a dark winding road, with silver puddles gleaming in the faint light and dense, black forests flanking them on both sides.

"Anyway, we've been called to provide a cover for an official investigation while the Brotherhood hunt down the guilty party in the incident." Obito drawled idly teaching Naruto how not to take his fingers off in a fast kunai finger trick. "All we have to do is stand there and look professional."

"That is a rubbish C rank Obito-Nii." Naruto told him flatly before completing the trick in one smooth flash of steel.

"Officially." Obito's mannerism didn't change but all three genin pricked their ears up.

"Unofficially." Obito shrugged, "Well I imagine anything could happen." He grinned at his team, not that any of them could see it what with the shadows draping over him.

….################################################...

Sakura gazed at the town of Tanzaki Gai in half concealed disgusted awe.

"It's so crowded." People were jam packed in the buildings, waving and shouting. Civilians strolled up and down the streets carrying bags, boxes or generally looking busy. Shops promoted goods by yelling into microphones and stacking perilous swaying columns of good on their counters. It was crowded, loud and bright even in the early hours of the morning.

"Tanzaki Gai." Obito smiled, "Fortunes are won and lost in this city. Come, we'd better check in with the Banchou."

"Doesn't look very disciplined to me." Sasuke whispered to Naruto snidely before rolling his eyes and following Obito.

Naruto shot him a look which plainly told him to behave before waiting for Sakura to catch up.

"First time out of the village?" He asked quietly.

"Pretty much." She answered still drinking in the sight under the rapidly lightening sky. Naruto chuckled, "Same here. We haven't been allowed to set one foot outside of Konoha before." His tone was oddly wistful.

"Sasuke has the Sharingan." Sakura spoke quietly. "What do you have?" It was strange, in the weeks leading up to the C rank she hadn't seen hide or hair of any strange talent in Naruto at all. Well apart from the fact he could run them all into the ground and then some (including Obito) before his chakra reserves even had a dip.

Naruto laughed and held up a finger to his lips.

If it had been even three weeks earlier Sakura would not have picked up the nervous edge to his laughter or the slight crease of his mouth tightening. So it wasn't something she could know. More secrets. Brilliant.

"Are you two planning on continuing any time today?" Sasuke asked sarcastically from ahead. "Or would you like another ten years to finish your conversation?" He adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag, nimbly stepped aside as two racing children sped past and shot them a glower.

Naruto's smile became a bit more genuine and Sakura felt a brief burst of hot jealousy and frustration on her chest at the demonstration of how close the bond between the boys was.

"Oh Teme." Naruto sighed dramatically. "I have waited a lifetime for you to realise that yes you do care about me and want to spend more time with me." He placed the back of his palm against his forehead in an exaggerated gesture. "My hear- where the hell is Obito-Nii?"

Even Sakura turned to look at the abrupt disbelief in the blond boy's voice. "How on earth did you manage to lose him? He was _three_ feet from you."

Sakura blinked and scanned the street. No mop of black hair anywhere. Sasuke seemed to have a slight difficulty believing he had been fooled that easily. A slight prickle of unease prickled behind her ribs, skittering up and down her side and she squashed it. Obito was a Jonin and this was in the heart of Fire Country. He was probably perfectly fine.

"Ahh!" Came a loud and very familiar voice. And then their irritating sensei came into view arms laden with shopping bags laughing uproariously at what a stooped old woman was wheezing away under her breath.

"Where do I put these Baa-san?" He asked cheerfully holding up the heavy bags as if they were nothing, they probably were nothing to him Sakura thought with a faint incredulity. Naruto and Sasuke seemed to sigh in unison and the former slapped a hand down his face.

"You mean he wasn't kidding about helping old women cross the road?" Sakura asked dryly.

Sasuke groaned. "It gets worse. Wait until you hear the black cat one." Naruto mumbled something from behind his hand and it sounded decisively uncomplimentary.

"Obito." Sasuke gritted out. "Leave a clone and let's go."

"Oh is this your son!?" The old woman bent right into Sasuke's personal space, Sasuke jerked back with a sneer-

Her walking cane swept his foot out from under him and Sasuke collapsed in a mess of limbs.

"Children are so adorable at this age." The woman's mouth curved into something too lined and toothy to be called a smile.

Naruto's eyebrows shot up and a glimmer of respect shone in his eyes. Sakura stared. The woman was trained? Remembering her lessons she inspected the woman's fingers. Civilians never had rings of tough skin around the base of each finger. Shinobi on the other hand were lucky if they didn't develop calluses from spinning kunai around like parlour tricks.

There were dark bands around each finger base like knobbly rings on the old woman's hands. Judging from the skill at her age, probably a retired Jonin.

Sakura bowed slightly in respect.

Sasuke sighed through his nose and clambered up brushing himself off. A glint of regret flashed through his face before he bowed realising his mistake.

On the other hand Naruto bounded up all unpleasant thoughts vaporised and started asking questions so fast he sounded like a yapping dog and even the indulgent expression on Obito's face faded to mild amazement.

Sakura and Sasuke dragged him back unceremoniously.

"No!" Naruto cried. "I had more questions!"

The woman cackled thumping her cane on the ground. "Energetic children is good! I like it, so I'll give you a test." She waved a finger at the mostly unruffled team. "If you guess my name, I'll give you a treat. That's what old retired women past their prime are supposed to do no?"

Obito clucked his tongue. "Baa-san. You are old in body only." He smiled beatifically at the old woman. "Your mind is still as sharp and that's all that matters. We are only as old as our minds are."

While the woman wheezed in laughter, Naruto pulled himself free interrupting Sakura's mini rant about how impossible the test was.

"Baa-san." The blond boy asked curiously. "You're dangerous right?"

A small grin flickered over Sasuke's mouth like lightning. With a light toss of his head he signalled for Sakura to be quiet, eyes glittering in anticipation.

"I was." The woman announced.

"So you were in the bingo book?" Naruto tilted his head as if scenting blood on a hunt.

The woman nodded once.

Naruto stared at her for a minute, lips pressed together. What was Naruto doing? Sakura tried to pick up some clues from her team mate's body language but nothing was forthcoming.

"Sixty four years ago." Naruto spoke sharply and suddenly. "Miyake Asari. Bounty of five million yen. Still wanted dead or alive."

Sakura felt her jaw drop. How? Had he memorised every single bingo book ever printed or what?

The woman's face unravelled in pleasure and surprise in folds that seemed hardly used.

"It warms an old woman's heart that she is still remembered in some circles." Her eyes were nearly shut in pleasure and her smile had far more warmth in it than before.

Naruto seemed to notice Sakura staring and coughed in embarrassment.

"Come." Asari commanded. "I will lead you to my son. I will provide dinner and a roof. No arguments sensei-chan." She flicked back at Obito who just smiled charmingly and shrugged.

It would be an insult to protest Sakura realised. The woman was obviously capable and very proud and if anyone even hinted at the fact she was old they were most likely going to get a caning.

…..##################################################...

What a …wild intensity.

The Banchou of Tanzaki Gai was a tall man with steely eyes and an aura that commanded absolute obedience.

Obito didn't even blink an eye greeting the man still carrying bags of shopping like a domestic civilian.

Miyake Asari terrorised the suddenly alarmed men and women at the Banchou's headquarters about something or the other and the younger members of team 7 discreetly tried to peer around for any familiar faces.

"Uchiha." The Banchou smiled (bared his teeth but it was close enough) and the blood curdling tension dissipated at once.

"Miyake!" Obito cheered. "Meet my brats! This is Sasuke, the one who looks like me; the blond one's Naruto and the girl's Sakura."

"So they saddled you with a team eventually." The Banchou smirked signalling for the table to be cleared. Obito knew the Banchou, at that moment Sakura knew she, Naruto and Sasuke were in total agreement. Obito had far too much fun at their expense. "Mother I need him relatively sane and composed." He called, "If you're bored, you can-"

"You brat." Asari snapped without heat. "Who are you to tell me what to do? As a matter of fact I have dinner to prepare and four extra futons to find. You would know that if you bothered you ask you lay-about child."

"Yes mother." The Banchou rolled his eyes at Obito and clicked his fingers at the genin to take three seats. "Shoo now mother. I'm busy."

The spectacled man behind him hissed in anticipation of something painful and the room as a whole collectively winced. Asari sniffed in haughty pride.

"Help that poor man with those bags you idiot." She snapped at a lanky man who snapped into action. "As you're taking my willing helper away from me, I'm taking a few of your men to help your poor invalid mother."

The Banchou ignored her expertly. "Do you know the situation?" He asked calmly perching on the edge of the table.

"I do." Obito drawled handing all the bags to the harried forced volunteer. "They don't though."

The Banchou nodded and faced the genin. "Several children have been abducted."

He said it so casually that it took a few seconds for it to register. Sakura's mind came screaming to the fact that the Tanzaki Gai Yakuza were all insane.

"I want you to go and talk to people and investigate and pretend to do whatever the official investigation procedure is while we go and kill the bastards." The Banchou finished arms crossed over his chest. "Acceptable?" His eyes were suddenly icy. "I don't tolerate independent work on my turf…and anything involving children." He added on as if it was a last minute thought. Perhaps he realised he was talking to a bunch of children. "You get a really easy job basically." He shrugged at Obito, "Nothing _too _above your skill level."

Obito's teeth and eyes flashed. "Oh I wouldn't say that." He leant back comfortably. "Might jinx the operation."

Well that was ominous.

"Go on." Obito ordered lazily waving a hand. "I know you want to."

"Who was taken and where from?" Naruto blurted immediately.

"Can we have a list?" Sasuke cut in. "With descriptions?"

"Timings!" Naruto frowned.

"Suspects."

"Witnesses?" Sakura asked shyly feeling a bit overwhelmed with both boys talking loudly and enthusiastically.

The Banchou whistled. "Well you _have_ taught them to bark on command."

Sasuke's grip in his lap went white and Naruto's smile became ever so frozen. It was clear none of them appreciated that comment and Sakura could only imagine it had touched a raw nerve in both of them.

The second in command straightened his glasses and passed a thick file to Obito.

"You're pretty reliable." Obito murmured flicking through the file.

"It's my job sir." The man inclined his head a pleased flash scooting over his face.

"Oh call me Obito." Obito grinned. "S-

"Stop flirting with my vice and get on with your job Uchiha." The Banchou spoke flatly and leapt off the desk.

"A man can't be nice without being thought of as flirty?" Obito blinked owlishly at the Banchou who laughed at him.

"I watched you in the Academy for five years Uchiha." The man grinned. "I know full well what you're like. Shoo ninja boy. Go bother my mother and take her off my hands for a day or two."

….#######################################################...

"This is quite an impressive list." Sakura muttered scanning through a list of all the children taken.

"On the other hand." Sasuke help up a scrap of paper. "The list of suspects is very short."

"The list of witnesses is non-existent." Naruto declared, and for the first time in a while there was a sense of cohesion as a team.

"They're not a suspect Sasuke-chan." Obito sang from where he was unwinding a terrified cat from a tree. "Miyake is sure they are the culprit; _that _is a warning to stay away from them. The Banchou is on the hunt personally and he doesn't want them tipped off." He leapt down the cat hissing and spitting in his hands.

Sakura stared. "What? Do we make up suspects?"

Obito grinned at her in answer.

Naruto snuck a glance at the piece of paper. "Great, if we knew who Gato was we would."

Sakura stared. "How can you know the contents of a bingo book from sixty four years ago and not who Gato is?" Incredulity stained her tone and Sasuke sent her a glare not appreciating her tone.

Naruto smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "There are Uzumakis in the bingo books." He spoke pleasantly. "Going back about a hundred years. Tell me, is Gato a shinobi?"

"No." Sakura admitted.

"Does he do anything that remotely affects us in any way?"

"…No."

"Were we taught about him in the academy?"

"No."

"Well then why would I know him?" Naruto hissed before sighing and running a hand over his forehead.

Guilt gnawed at Sakura's stomach. She had completely forgotten, Naruto was an orphan and the only link he had was his last name. It was no wonder he had traced through dozens of bingo books just for the confirmation his family wasn't something that he made up. That they had been real people, he had starved of information and the books were the only way he could get them.

"You want to enlighten these two Sakura?" Obito asked lightly after an awkward silence.

"Business man. Very rich and powerful." Sakura answered curtly. "Owns a company that works in all of the major shinobi nations."

"What does he…?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Wood." Sakura thought for a second. "The old hard kind used for boats and houses. That's why his foothold in Konoha isn't that big, our forests are enough to supply us and we don't need boats."

Her father, bless him, when he had been alive had taken to sitting her on his knee and talking to her as he worked. Sakura had picked up a lot about business and corporations by the time she could tie her shoes and hit a target with a weighted kunai.

"What on earth can a business man want with children?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the paper.

"Are you addled dobe?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Unpaid child labour is the cheapest way for corrupt business men to make a profit."

"From the Banchou of Tanzaki Gai's prowling grounds?" Sakura didn't need to do anything to point out how stupid that was.

"The fact Tanzaki Gai even has a Banchou isn't common knowledge you realise?" Obito raised an eyebrow slipping into lecture mode. "Civilians aren't happy about living with Yakuza when there's a shinobi village nearby, we get so many requests to 'clear' them out. If news got out that they were unified behind one leader instead of being in little rabbles there really would be trouble."

"If Sakura goes and talks to people and does the main pretence bit, we're free to sneak around and find out more about Gato." Naruto pointed between him and Sasuke. "Sorry Sakura but you have far more experience with talking to civilians."

"Deviating from the mission parameters already?" Obito rolled his eyes. "What a troublesome team."

"You." Naruto pointed. "Obito-Nii…are you just going to supervise again?" The flat look the dark eyed man shot the blond was answer enough.

Sakura's smile was brittle. Of course, she would be separated from her team and be told to work alone. She wasn't bitter. At all.

"I bet I find out more than you." Sasuke challenged Naruto, a gleam shining in his eyes. Naruto's face came alive in defiance.

Both of them were gone in the next second, racing off into town headbands fluttering into Obito's waiting hand.

Sakura sighed and turned to Obito who quirked a questioning look at her.

"Where do we meet up?" She asked wearily. "I mean after we're done."

Playful Obito faded into mildly helpful Obito.

"It's nice to know one of my genin is sensible at least." He mused ruffling her hair. "Do you see where that odd shaped rooster chimney is? It's three doors to the left." He smiled at her and Sakura felt an answering smile form on her mouth before she too turned away.

…###############################################...

"Yes, a full investigation will be launched." Sakura assured the lock jawed woman. She pretended to make a note, "It is a serious matter and will be treated as such."

"I bet those damn thugs did it." The woman whispered brokenly. "Taking my poor Niseki."

Sakura shot her a sharp look. After the unveiling of Asari as an ex ninja she had been paranoid in checking if any of the 'civilians' she was talking to had similar backgrounds. She really didn't want to embarrass herself by acting something out of her league and have it called upon.

She could say with a relative surety this woman had no kunoichi background whatsoever.

"Let's not jump to conclusions." She told the woman reassuringly. "It hinders the progress of justice."

…###############################################...

Then there were the people who refused to believe she was a ninja.

"You can't be a ninja." A heavy set man blinked over a glass of amber liquid. "You don't have that edge the Yakuza have and Kami knows the shinobi are made of a tougher stock than any Yakuza."

Sakura felt her smile peel back exposing teeth.

"Tell me." She asked pleasantly. "Would you be more wary of a person with the 'edge' or me if I took my headband off?"

"The other one of course." The man narrowed his eyes searching for the trick question.

"That's rather the point." Sakura hissed through her teeth and the man's eyes went very wide.

"Oh."

She had no trouble out of him again.

…#######################################################...

"You can find my Ruriko-chan?!"

"I can certainly try now please let go oji-san."

"I don't know what's happened to her! She must be so scared!" And the old man burst into loud noisy tears so desperately grateful for the slightest chance his granddaughter could be found.

Sakura cursed Sasuke and Naruto in her head for leaving her to deal with this situation and awkwardly patted the man on the back until he regained his composure.

…########################################################...

"Well." A masculine voice interrupted Sakura self-imposed break from hysterical civilians. "That symbol bodes trouble for some people."

Sakura's head shot up. A handsome dark haired man smiled at her and pointed at her headband. "What brings a kunoichi of the leaf here?"

Sakura's fingers flicked to the base of his fingers. Clear unmarked skin.

"The children being abducted." She answered. "Can you tell me anything?"

"Oh that awful business." The man hummed. "I can but I'm hungry. I'll tell you over some food, deal?"

As if timed Sakura's stomach let out a growl. The man's smile widened and he pointed to a nice little restaurant at the side of the street.

"My treat, you're obviously overworking yourself."

"No, I'll pay for myself." Sakura brushed herself off.

"Suit yourself." The man shrugged, "I'm Zabuza Momochi."

"Saki."

Rule number one of dealing with civilians was that they never gave their real names out. Just so it couldn't be traced back to them.

…###############################################...

Sakura kept a careful eye on the man as he fiddled with a wrap.

"It's good Konoha is interfering." Zabuza spoke quietly at last and the grim note in his voice leapt out at her. He took a bite and chewed. "Who's your main suspect?" And now his eyes really did flash. Relief, curiosity, outrage Sakura couldn't tell?

"I can't give that out." Sakura told him.

"Of course." He nodded as if that was expected. He reached into his pocket and slid something across the table. Sakura picked it up and her breath caught in her throat.

_Gato industries._

_Law Sector._

_Tanzaki Gai._

The man worked for Gato?! It really was a good thing she hadn't told him who their main suspect was. She fought to squash the rising feelings of triumph, if she could get some information from him then she could prove to Naruto and Sasuke that she deserved to be on their team.

"I am under the indirect employ of Gato." Zabuza watched her reaction carefully. "And I find myself in a slight…muddle."

"How so?"

"I am paid well. My work is interesting, I have no complaints on that section." The man spread his hands. "But…whatever the company does reflects upon the employees as a whole. Lawyers need a creditable reputation do you see where I am going with this?"

Sakura's neck prickled with excitement. If this lead where she thought it led…

"Then leave." Sakura passed the card back. "And it really has nothing to do with me."

"But there is a question of morals to consider." Zabuza idly tore a strip from his wrap. "My sense of justice is strong Saki-san. How can I just leave and do nothing?" His eyes pierced Sakura right down to the bone. "And I think in this case yours and my sense of justice coincide."

Sakura's throat felt very dry with a rising delight. She had an employee of Gato willing to give her information! Or he could be lying and take back information about the investigation to Gato her mind whispered darkly.

"It was very lucky that I caught you actually." Zabuza mused thoughtfully.

"What can you tell me?" Sakura asked, the man smiled strangely and looked up at the sky.

The man sipped at his drink. "All the kids have been taken without leaving a trace, you know that right? Without a fuss, without a trace without a single witness."

"…There are more shinobi in the area." Sakura whispered a weight settling over her heart.

Zabuza nodded grimly. "The brutes." He scowled. "Gato has a supply of missing Nin he draws on for his dirty work."

"Thank you for telling me." Sakura whispered hands clenching tightly. She needed to tell Obito as fast as possible, were Yakuza a match for shinobi?

"Hey!"

Naruto jogged up to their table having the sense not to call her name out in public. Zabuza's eye flicked to the approaching Naruto and something like shock widened his eye.

"He's your team mate?" His head snapped back to Sakura. Sakura winced and nodded knowing the damage was done.

"Do you know where to find Obito-Nii?" Naruto rested his hands on his knees as he gasped. Waving a hand over his shoulder he continued. "I really should have asked before leaving."

"It seems you are needed." Zabuza rose smoothly to his feet. "Keep that." He nodded at the business card. "Contact me if you need to." A shark like grin flitted across his face and Sakura thought she saw the type of ruthless lawyer he was.

With a final nod at both genin the man wandered away depositing a few notes at the counter.

"Who was that?" Naruto breathed as if to stop the man from overhearing. Sakura snatched up the card and faced Naruto.

"I'll tell you at the house when we all pitch in." She spoke decisively and started to outline the directions to Asari's home.

**Review please? You can decide if I kept my promise or not Hehehe.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy this chapter, the next one will be up next weekend or earlier if I'm in a good mood.**

"What took you so long?" A disgruntled Sasuke asked as soon as Naruto and Sakura stepped through the doorway.

The reason for his displeasure soon came evident as Asari clad in a hideous apron came bustling out of another room and the light in Sasuke's eyes turned panicky.

"Shoes off." The old woman wheezed and elected to ignore Sasuke much to his great relief. "Your sensei is in the kitchen. He's such a good boy compared to my idiotic son." Muttering darkly under her breath Asari moved off in creaky shuffles which hid a speed like a striking snake.

"Scared of an old woman?" Naruto hissed under his breath as he passed Sasuke. "That's low even for you Teme."

"You have _not _been here stuck between her and her son." Sasuke hissed back.

"The Banchou's here?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

""Apparently Obito got really bored." Sasuke shrugged. "And waltzed into the headquarters and waltzed back out with the Banchou in tow to catch up."

"Ah kiddies!" Obito's voice floated over. "In, in!"

Obito sat cross legged at one side of the table and the Banchou sat scowling opposite him.

"You have your minions now so you won't be bored anymore." The man spoke waspishly. "I have a hunt to plan."

"My kids have worked their asses off lying for you." Obito countered lying through his teeth.

"Which is what I'm _paying_ them to do."

"So you can at least listen to them." Obito finished triumphantly.

The Banchou rolled his eyes to the ceiling and used his chopsticks to scoop up his food. "Don't even pretend you haven't been investigating Gato."

"You know full well who it is." Naruto frowned crossing his arms over his chest. "Why even bother to ask for us? Hell we're not even involved in this even when you did call us."

"Because there's other shinobi in the area." Sakura answered him softly. Sasuke shot her an extremely sharp look.

Obito blinked at her and with a vague sense of mounting irritation she realised Obito knew. He knew and still got them to figure it out anyway.

"Ahh dearie." Asari pulled off her cooking gloves and pulled a pot off the stove. "How did you find that out?"

"Zabuza Momochi told me."

CRASH.

The pot rolled on the floor contents spilling all over the floor. Obito spat his mouthful out over the table. The Banchou choked on his gulp and started coughing in painful wheezes. Naruto stared at her in a dawning awe and horror and Sasuke actually had a slight glimmer of respect in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Obito choked out. "Say that again."

The two Miyakes' faces darkened like thunder. "What the hell is _Zabuza Momochi _doing in my town?" The Banchou snarled so viciously his eyes became slits of steel.

Oh. So Zabuza hadn't been a nice, friendly lawyer then. That was a shame, she had quite liked him.

"How can you know who Gato is and not who Momochi is?" Naruto wind milled his arms looking very concerned and incredulous. "Come on! Bounty of eight million yen as of three years ago."

"Why did you talk to a man with a sword bigger than him anyway?" Sasuke asked scathingly like she was stupid. "Or one who didn't show his face?"

Sakura held up both hands. "Hold on! I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"What misunderstanding can there be with you telling us you spoke to Zabuza Momochi?" The Banchou asked tone rising sharply, reaching for a glass of water to clear his throat.

"He didn't have a sword." Sakura shot back. "I could see all of his face and he was a lawyer for Gato."

The Banchou choked on his drink again.

"Sakura!" Obito nearly wailed. "Zabuza Momochi is a missing Nin from Kiri who's famous for being one of the Seven Swordsmen!" Near instantly his face hardened and the playful light flickered out of his eyes. Jonin Obito pinned her with a dark cool gaze.

"Tell me _exactly_ what happened from the moment we split up." He ordered.

….################################################################...

"No he did not look like that." Sakura stated flatly eyeing the picture in the bingo book. "Well his hair was the same colour and that's it."

"Henge?" Sasuke asked Obito.

"Maybe." The man muttered. "But Momochi's not the type to trick genin by pretending to be lawyers or give information away like that."

"Oh." Sakura pulled out the business card. "He left this behind."

Obito took it between two fingers and flipped it to reveal handwriting.

_They're being moved tomorrow. Where the river curves around the tree there's a holding cell for all of them. If you want to save them I suggest you hurry._

"It's obviously a trap." The Banchou scoffed.

"That man wants to draw you out." Asari cackled. "Draw you out by the river where he is the strongest." She drew a finger over her jugular.

"Then why use the name Momochi?" Sakura asked earnestly. "He must have known the second you heard that name you would not go or trust him."

"Maybe it's someone else using Momochi's name." Naruto offered pacing up and down the kitchen. "I saw the man too, I agree he did not seem like the man in the bingo book."

"Momochi is an elite nin for a reason though." Sasuke reminded him.

"And there is no cabin or any sort of structure near that area." The Banchou announced flatly.

"Gato deals in wood idiot son." Asari snapped at him. "It would not be out of the impossible for him to throw up a structure like that. You know what we have to do sensei-chan." She turned glinting eyes that were far too old and amused for her face on a grim Obito.

"Yes." Their sensei answered curtly staring out of the window at the dying light. "Sorry Sakura but I'm going to have to ask you to spring the trap."

"No." Sasuke interrupted almost instantly.

"No?" Obito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't ask us what we found." Sasuke sat back in a chair in the Miyake's living room. Obito's eyes sharpened and Sakura was reminded of the day he took out of her house.

"What did you find titchy Uchiha?" The Banchou took the bait irritably. Sasuke sent him an annoyed look no doubt still miffed about the dog comment from earlier.

"All but one of the kids taken have family connections in Wave." Sasuke told him, "The only one who doesn't was taken at the same time as another so I'm assuming it was to shush him up."

"In Wave?" Naruto stared. "That's…what are the kids doing here then?"

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I snuck through some of the parent's stuff, quite a lot of them had unfinished letters to people in Wave begging them just in case the kids are smuggled out by water."

"Wave's in quite a bad situation." Sakura connected the dots instantly, "Their trade is down so some Wave families may have moved here, and so what's happening in Wave that Gato needs or wants influence there?"

"A bridge." Obito and Asari spoke at the same time.

"It'll give the people hope and control over better trade." Obito's voice was dark. "Gato must not want to make a loss in Wave if the people switch to other traders or start their own suppliers."

"Blackmail." Naruto tilted his head against the wooden wall sounding very weary.

"Hostages." The Banchou made the word seem like a curse.

"So question is." Obito mused. "Who's kid is left in Tanzaki Gai who has connections to Wave? Nice work Sasuke by the way."

All eyes turned to the two Miyakes.

"You think I'm playing the ninja game?" The younger Miyake raised an eyebrow. "You really think I'm going to stabbing in the dark for what Gato may or may not do with a puppet named Zabuza who may or may not be Zabuza. No." He slammed his cup on the table with a crack. "We storm Gato's headquarters tonight. None of this he may do this or he may do that bullshit. It's practically guaranteed his forces will be out for some ambush which you may set off if you like, it makes our job easier, so his base will be low on defence. Do you see where I am going with this? Yes?"

"That." Naruto pointed at the Banchou. "Is not ninja thinking." He pursed his lips and nodded. "I like it."

Sakura too was slightly taken aback at the sheer straight forwardness of the plan. Her brain and sensibilities demanded complicated plots and trickery and this straight up charge seemed brutally inelegant. But it was sensible she was forced to admit.

"So that leaves us with the question of the maybe ambush." Sasuke rested his chin on the back of his hand. "I say we go and check it out. Obito's Sharingan can tell if any jutsu is being used and if it is we get out of there fast. Sakura keep the Banchou's mother safe would you?"

Not Sakura. _Not _Sakura. She wasn't a part of the team pronoun 'we'.

Sakura's jaw clenched so hard her teeth ached. Ok she could understand Sasuke was used to working with his cousin and almost brother but surely she was-

No. She wasn't part of them. He didn't think her capable or he thought their dynamic would be thrown off. Bitterly she mocked the dark haired boy in her head, what did he think would happen if they were attacked as a team? Would she disappear behind safe walls by some safe magic while _their precious dynamic _miraculously defeated everyone?

"Oh did you want to come with us Sakura?" Sasuke tilted his head.

Damn him! Sasuke had phrased that question so that if she replied YES she looked utterly stupid because that tone had no belief in her as a combatant. _She had found out about the shinobi! (_Which Obito already knew! What else did he know? Did she have to go beat up several thugs for him to even consider taking her along?

"I think it's better if you don't go Sakura." Obito spoke carefully and Sakura whirled on him furious and bright eyed.

"_Not _because of your skills or anything." Obito held both hands up to stop an angry rant. "It's because Zabuza gave the note to _you. _If it is an ambush he's prepared for you and if you're not there it'll throw him for a loop because it won't fit what he thought of your character."

Sakura was shaking. "You too?" She asked Naruto scathingly.

Naruto looked away. That just made it worse, the blond boy clearly knew what she was thinking and feeling and he _looked away._

If she made a protest she just looked unprofessional. If she went along with it, she came off as the doormat. Time for a new plan.

"Banchou." She addressed the stone faced man.

"Hmm?"

"Can I join you on your invasion?" The shock on all the male members' faces was something she would hold close to her heart for a very long time.

"Sure." The man's mouth twitched into a smile and to her surprise mild approval flashed across his face. "You are my kohai after all." Asari was grinning and cackling under her breath.

"You thought I need protection child?" She thrust her stick in Sasuke's direction. "If they come after _me, _they'll be the ones who need protection! What confidence you said it with, I am a Jonin!"

"Retired." The Banchou coughed into his fist.

"Oh shut up idiot of a son!" Asari hissed over her shoulder. "Go plan your invasion."

Obito nodded. "I have no problems. Miyake-"

"No!" Naruto cried and Sasuke glared. "Sakura! What are you thinking?!"

"I am thinking that I would like to contribute other than stand around watching other people fight." Sakura answered quietly. "Don't tell me we're a team in Konoha and how we're all going to work out, when the second we step out of the village you two decide on some stupid decision to prevent me from going near fifty feet of a fight."

Naruto's jaw snapped shut. "That…wasn't…"

"It really was." Obito corrected him gently. "I'm proud of you Sakura standing up for you think is right." He smiled at her and she looked away seeing Sasuke in his features.

"Tch." Sasuke sneered lightly, scorn passing over his features. She really didn't understand him. First he went they should be a team, then it was her fault if they failed, then he would protect her then went _really _overboard doing that and now he seemed to be antagonistic.

"Does Konoha pull replacements out of the failed lot or move a more capable genin into the empty spots?" Sasuke asked cruelly and Sakura's breath turned to ice in her lungs and caught there. How _dare _he? That arrogant son of a bitch.

"Sasuke!" Obito barked. "That was too far. Apologise _now_." He looked furious, dark eyes glittering in anger. Even Naruto looked slightly taken aback, mouth dropping open slightly in dismay.

"I guess I won't get to tell you 'I told you so'." Sasuke spoke directly to Sakura.

Pain cracked across Sakura's knuckles as her ears roared in a distant haze of wind and fury.

Sasuke's head snapped to the side and he tumbled out of his chair clutching his cheek and swearing profusely. Sakura withdrew her fist and immediately Obito there gently wrapping his fingers around her wrist and pulling her away.

"You bitch!" Sasuke spat clutching his cheek. "That's what I get for _trying _to keep you safe?" The Banchou discreetly ushered his extremely fascinated mother out of the room and shut it behind him muttering about how it wasn't a drama for her enjoyment.

Safe? Sakura was livid. To mock her about her dying was not trying to keep her safe at all! It was insulting. _Degrading_. Like she was a possession that couldn't be broken and so could never be used.

"Sasuke!" Naruto groaned hands covering his mouth and eyes tilted shut.

"Well _screw you!_" Sakura screamed. "Screw you and your stupid ideas, who the fuck told you telling me I was going to die was going to make me roll over and agree to kept safe like some _pet!_"

Chaos broke loose.

Sasuke roared back. "You're not good enough! We saw you in the past few weeks, Momochi's not an opponent you can face!"

"And _you_ can?" Sakura laughed bitterly letting her frustration out. "Of course the two graduating genii can do it. With two weeks of training you think you can go up against a Jonin!?"

Obito moved and Sakura shoved at him wordlessly furious at him too. It was his job to make sure they were a team godammit. But deep in herself she realised she was being unfair and so those words never made it past her lips.

"Sasuke, Sakura!" Obito's yell was lost in the screaming match that erupted three way between the three genin. Naruto was yelling about how they had to shut up and concentrate on the mission. Sasuke was yelling about how ungrateful Sakura was and how she needed to train more before taking the field. Sakura was yelling about how their stupid dynamic had to change and that she was sick of being treated as the third wheel.

Obito's patience snapped like a wire.

"_Alright!" _He bellowed easily drowning out all the screaming. "_What _do you think you are doing?! This is _disgraceful!_" All three of them shut up to see their sensei's eyes flashing very dangerously and a low level killing intent leaking from his frame. It wasn't that much but since he had _never _shouted at them before or even threatened them slightly all of them were stunned into silence.

"You are in the middle of a mission." Obito hissed fingers flexing at his side. "You cannot afford to behave like children, especially not with what's at stake."

Naruto's face crumpled like his world was collapsing around him. And Sakura thought with some peculiar distance that it nearly had. Obito, his practically brother in all but blood, had raised his voice to him. Sasuke and he were having an argument with raised voices, the kind hearted boy's world was made up entirely of those two people. Guilt sank in her stomach like a stone and the back of her throat felt thick and sticky. He was surprisingly _fragile _for a boy who preferred to laugh off an insult instead of retaliating.

Obito's face slowly turned anxious. "I'm not mad at you Naruto." He breathed stretching out a hand to touch the blond boy's shoulder.

Sasuke turned genuinely hateful eyes on Sakura for the first time. The spite in those dark eyes were like hot embers and they accused her. Those eyes laid the blame for this directly at her feet.

"Look at what you've done." He spoke quietly fists clenched into tight balls.

"Shut up!" Naruto sounded like he was going to cry if pushed any further. "Stop fighting! This is both your fault!"

Sasuke shut up so fast his teeth snapped together. Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. Obito sighed and his look of disappointment made both of them feel very small and worthless inside.

"Well if you did want to come." The Banchou abruptly poked his head around the door. "I'm leaving now to pick up some men." The sudden intrusion was startling and to Sakura very welcome.

"I'm coming." She answered quietly turning to leave.

"Sakura."

"Sorry sensei." She whispered. "I could apologise but you'd all tell I was lying."

Obito passed a hand over his forehead suddenly looking very weary. Naruto and Sasuke pointedly didn't look at anyone.

"I don't have anything to apologise for." Sasuke muttered at the opposite wall.

"When we get back we are so continuing this discussion." Obito groaned. "Alright Sakura, stay safe and listen to what Miyake tells you. Boys stay here for a minute or two."

"You too."

…..###########################################################...

"You idiot Sasuke." Obito spoke as soon as Sakura was out of ear shot. "What _possessed _you to say something like that?" His dark haired and eyed cousin stubbornly didn't meet his eyes.

"Compassion. Tact. Kindness. That's what I've taught you to use." Obito stressed eyes very concerned. "Don't cling onto hate and cruelty. Because what you said _was _cruel. What happened to making an effort Sasuke? You were trying so hard back at home."

"She wasn't listening." Sasuke bit out reluctantly. "It wasn't working."

"You got frustrated." Obito finished, an intelligent glint in his dark eyes.

"We weren't clicking!" Sasuke snapped with an imperial toss of the head. "I _was _trying to keep her safe. I swear Obito, I said that we would…and I was hoping scaring her into staying here would do the job." He sank into a sofa face in his hands.

"Telling her she was going to die was way over the line." Naruto shook his head sounding far calmer than before. "You _knew _she was terrified of being neglected and killed on this team."

Obito hung his head for a few seconds. His foolish, foolish team. Naruto and Sasuke needed to realise that what they were doing was an insult and would hinder their female teammate far more than help her. He really wasn't surprised Sakura had reacted the way that she had.

"Tell me you two." He asked softly. "Do you think she appreciates what you're doing?"

"She's not meant to." Naruto answered immediately. "Obito-Nii it'll be our fault if she gets killed!" Pain flashed across his face and he gripped Obito's forearm. "So we should concentrate on improving as a team right? That's _why _we spent all of the past few weeks at home away from anyone else."

Obito gently removed his hand from his shirt. "She is going to _die _if you keep this up." He told them gently but firmly and satisfaction shot through him at how both their eyes went wide. "Team work isn't about protecting someone. It's about watching each other's backs and if you don't trust Sakura enough to do that tell me. If you keep trying to 'protect' her, all of you will splinter and fall apart."

"Well that's the thing you see." Sasuke tilted his head, eyes suddenly very sharp. "I don't. What?" He asked Naruto. "I don't. I've known her for two weeks and I don't think she'll look out for me like you would."

"But would you look out for her like you would Naruto?" Obito pointed out delicately and Sasuke flushed a dull red. "Anyway stop it you two. And come on we'll check out Momochi's trap."

He was nearly out of the door when he heard a small voice behind him.

"I didn't mean to make you upset Naruto."

Obito smiled and carried on.

…..#########################################################...

"Are you going to mope about your spat through this operation?" The Banchou asked Sakura bluntly.

"What spat?" Sakura asked coolly hands in pockets. She locked away the turmoil in her in a box and threw away the key.

The blond second in command coughed into his fist sounding quite amused. Twenty five men and women in various states of fighting attire rushed around the room squabbling and shoving but ultimately more and more yakuza were fully geared up.

"Good." The Banchou jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "Call him Taichou." The spectacled man grinned at her a mischievous spark lighting up his eyes. "That's everyone you need to know, these sorry lot are grunts." He kicked half-heartedly at a scrabbling man on the floor. "You outrank them." He added on as if it was an afterthought. "Don't worry they're not that incompetent at their job."

"So it's the girl of the team who's the assassin." An indulgent smile twisted the Taichou's lips. With a laugh he ruffled her hair and she was reminded of Obito. "I _had _pegged you as the disguise specialist. I must be getting rusty."

Sakura shrugged off her headband, forehead feeling bare and cold. Just on the off case they were caught, she could pretend to be a hostage civilian and hit their ambushers when they weren't expecting it.

"I'm as much of an assassin as I am of a disguise specialist." She told the blond man calmly. "That is to say, not at all."

"Ok." The man shrugged. "I'll walk you through the basics then." Then in a stricter tone he started guiding her through how to make no noise when she moved; how to stick to shadows and what they were doing. Fascinated Sakura forgot her argument and the fact she was upset and slowly lost herself in repetitions of footsteps around the room.

"You're moving your waist too much." Taichou told her critically. "Don't fall into the habit of moving opposite limbs, it wastes movement."

"If you're done sensei." The Banchou drawled fingers hooking a cap over his messy hair. "I think we might be ready to move out." There was a subtle look at Sakura's very pink hair and she could have sworn she heard him mutter something about insane shinobi.

Sakura was perfectly aware of her hair thank you. Yes it was pink. But in a world with red pinwheel eyes, humans filled with bugs and varicose vein vision what was pink hair in the grand scheme of things?

…##############################################################...

"Listen Pinky." The blond man seemed to relish the thought of having a student because instead of helping his subordinates with anything he just stood there and lectured her. "When invading don't concentrate all your troops in one point. Then you're the one who can be boxed in."

The sky was dark above them and the group of Yakuza were silent and stealthy as they slipped through the streets towards their destination. Gato's business building was near the outer edge of Tanzaki Gai; a sombre structure of wood and paint. ("If all else fails we can just set it on fire and watch it scream." A flash of slightly pointed teeth.) It was invigorating casually navigating streets with the one purpose of causing havoc.

Sakura's skin tingled and her finger tips itched to do something; throw a kunai, twirl a pen, anything. Then one by one groups of five split away circling around the silent building to approach from other angles. She did guess that as the Banchou and Taichou wouldn't make it a regular thing to operate with 'grunts' they would form a team of their own to stop the five people dynamic from being messed up.

It was quite a large building, about the size of the Hokage Tower except flattened so it sprawled over a decent amount of land. It was grim and dark and the windows looked like dark glassy pits into some ravenous animal's mouth. The Banchou held up two fingers and hooked them towards the main gate.

Of course the Banchou would not bother to sneak around the back like some common criminal. Sakura felt a grin stretch her lips in uncommon glee. The blond man disappeared from her side in a burst of displaced air and when she turned her head to look he and his leader had hands around guard's mouths and brutally snapped their necks to the side.

The Banchou let his captive drop with a dead thump.

Then remembering he had a kunoichi with him he bared his teeth in a wicked grin at Sakura silently challenging her if she was capable enough to hold up.

Sakura simply pointed at where the third guard was straightening a crossbow at his unprotected back. The man's grin grew the slightest bit blood thirsty. His vice executed the guard in a gurgle not moments later. That duo did _not _mess around. Despite her slight disgust at three men being casually killed she had to admire their arrogance and skill.

Then the blond was there pushing her towards gently towards the last man who came running over eyes scanning the place warily at entirely the wrong angle to see them.

She did hope they didn't expect her to kill him. Sakura wasn't that far gone.

She crept around the man in a circle, sticking to the shadows and convenient hiding niches. Her heart pounded a few times in her chest before she remembered to breathe in deeply to slow it down. Then when he was completely facing away from her she just walked up to the back of his neck and whacked him so hard he collapsed immediately.

That was…anticlimactic.

The Taichou sent her two thumbs up. The Banchou was already ahead through the gates and headed towards the main entrance.

Whoa hold on girl, it's dark and you came from behind. Don't get too ahead of yourself Sakura reminded herself before swapping herself with a twig near the entrance. She thought the Banchou looked resigned at the actual reminder that yes she was an official genin, who had actually passed both graduation tests.

"Isn't this very unsubtle and going to give away the fact there are intruders?" She asked him.

"Gato's hired nin." The Banchou pointed out flatly. "The last place Nin guard is the front entrance. They all think in circles and guard all the entrances but the front entrance. We'll just have to deal with non-shinobi security guards." Sakura paused and reran that logic in her head.

She couldn't honestly say he was wrong.

Then he went and surprised her again by knocking on the door. Waving a hand signalling for her to watch, the man grabbed the man who opened the door by the chin and tossed him towards his second in command who promptly punched him in the nose and knocked him out. The silence of the night was not broken once.

Cracking his fingers the Banchou gestured for her to go first.

Curious Sakura did so and walked in on a pleasant image of four security guard's eyes bugging out and jaw dropping at their unexpected guest.

"Sorry." She laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "The one who just got the door thought I was a ghost or something and fainted. I'm really lost, can you direct me to the place I died please? Then perhaps I'll have some peace."

She dropped the one of the layered henges she had on her chest. Her red dress grew positively burgundy what with the spreading stain right over her heart. Blood leaked from the corner of one mouth and Sakura made sure to smile and tilt her head so they could appreciate the sight of blood stained teeth.

One of them let out a short whimper of pure terror before the smell of urine permeated the area. Stark horror twisted the other three men's faces into grotesque masks and they stumbled backwards mouths open in a silent scream. Sakura felt the rising killing intent from the two hidden men behind her and let her smile turn ever so vicious taking advantage of the bloodlust in the air.

She took one step forward still smiling.

All four men fainted.

Sakura dropped the henge on her herself and returned to normal.

"How stupid were they?" She asked scathingly and the Taichou let out a short laugh and helped his boss in securing the bodies.

She wasn't exactly the scariest person around with _pink _hair and still under five foot two.

The Banchou and Taichou shrugged on two guard coats and turned to face Sakura at the same time.

"Come here and be an escaped prisoner." The Banchou beckoned and with not a little amount of cruelty wrenched her hand behind her back in a hold.

"Do try not to break her arm." The Taichou muttered as he poked his head down the corridors. "I don't think her sensei will be too impressed."

The three of them strode down the corridors hoping to bump into another guard. Sakura tried to make her act convincing by kicking at the men and twisting. She didn't think the Banchou even noticed what with his steely eyes flickering for any sign of movement.

"You!" The Taichou snarled out of the blue voice rougher like he had smoked a dozen packs of cigarettes daily. "What the hell are you doing? Because it doesn't seem like you were doing your job you idiot!"

A pair of guards and a man with a headband turned to face an angry Taichou.

"Excuse me?" The man with the headband asked almost pleasantly. The sight of the sign with a long scratch through it sent a shiver down Sakura's spine. His eyes were cold though, and she didn't doubt he was a shinobi for a second.

"You let someone escape!" The Taichou gritted out waving a hand at Sakura who hissed in her hold. "What were you doing? We just stopped her from escaping and blabbing."

The two guards went pale and looked at each other. "Gato'll have our heads if anything goes wrong." One of them whispered fearfully.

"Well she didn't escape." The Nin shrugged. "Give her here, I'll put her back with a warning not to do it again." He held out a hand and Sakura felt ice coalesce in her stomach. Warning? They would really hand her over would they? "Consider it an apology for wasting your time." The Nin continued smoothly.

The Banchou snorted. "Are you crazy? You lot were the ones who almost let her get away. We'll put her away thanks mate." His grip tightened on Sakura's wrist and she bit back a yelp of agony. "Just give us the directions."

The Nin's eyes narrowed dangerously. A few dark blond locks escaped from his headgear and fell across his forehead.

"Suit yourself." He shrugged and there was a deflation of tension like air being let out of a balloon. "Follow me then." He loped down a separate corridor.

"Grip." Sakura choked.

The force of her wrist immediately lessened.

"Sorry." The Banchou muttered and pushed her forward.

The walk was silent with none of the four parties wanting to make small talk. After several twists and turns the Nin nodded towards a trap door set in the ground.

"In the tunnel you go." He told them calmly. "I'll follow after you."

The two Yakuza tensed slightly. None of them liked the idea of a trained Nin being at their backs in a dark tunnel. The Nin smiled lazily, eyes still icy.

"Something the matter?"

"You go first with the girl." The Taichou told his boss. Protecting his boss to the very end Sakura noted with some admiration. If the Nin was hostile, the Banchou would have time to react and defend himself with his vice's death.

The Banchou shrugged and forced Sakura to take the roughly hewn steps into the cramped dark tunnel. The edges brushed their shoulders and all she could see was darkness. The musty smell of the earth made it slightly difficult to breathe and her mouth felt dusty, if there was a turn coming up both of them would crash into the wall.

There came two vibrations from behind them signifying the other two had followed.

Eventually she did crash. Her head smashed into an iron ring set into the earth and she swayed, pain coursing through her head. Discreetly the Banchou checked the wound, pushed her back and went up first. The Taichou didn't let her even try to climb the rungs, he just picked her up and handed her off to the Banchou who had his arms extended from outside the tunnel. She felt like a child with how they were handling her.

The first thing she noticed was the cages. Each cage spanned the length of the room around the edges and eyes gleamed in the half dark. Three lanterns gave the room a little light and at the other end of the room was a heavily locked and bolted door. All the windows had bars on and from what she could see they were in the forest near Tanzaki Gai. The smell of hay and sweat was nearly unbearable and the children were just dark shapes in the cages. Sakura felt like she was going to be sick from their treatment. The taste of bile made her saliva surprisingly hard to swallow.

Now they just needed to get rid of the Nin without tipping him off.

Then Sakura caught sight of the Banchou's face and swallowed.

There she went thinking like a Nin again. The look on his face spelled death for the Nin and anyone who got in his way.

He helped his subordinate up the rungs face carefully blank. His fingers slipped into his pocket and fiddled with something. The second Taichou's boot cleared the entrance the Banchou flicked a lighter into the tunnel and slammed the trap door lid shut.

The sound of the explosion rocked the hut and made the cages rattle. The children cried out in fear and Sakura steadied herself by examining the locks on the cages. Fire and heat licked at the air through the gaps between the door and the tunnel and the room was illuminated once in flickering amber.

"They've got to have heard that back at the base." The Taichou muttered.

"Doesn't matter." The Banchou dismissed him, "They have no way of getting here now that the tunnel's collapsed. Get the door open."

The lock was a deceptively simple one to undo and Sakura just jammed a kunai in the lock instead of trying to pick it. She extended a hand to the nearest filthy child who was staring at her in wonder.

"You…are helping us?"

"Well yeah." Sakura agreed. "We're not monsters like Gato."

Cool air blew into the room as the blond man got the door open. The children's eyes went as wide as saucers looking from the open lock to the open door. They could taste freedom again.

Then the trapdoor blew outwards in a spectacularly explosive fashion. Sakura felt her smile freeze in horror and turned around to see a shadow pull itself out of the ruined tunnel and brush ash off their body.

He wasn't dead. _He wasn't dead. _How was he not dead?

Cold eyes pinned her to her position as if nails had been driven through her feet.

One hand sent a lantern crashing down into straw and the dry straw caught flame in an instant. The crackling heat and light illuminated his face and how the prospect of burning all of the children alive didn't faze him at all. That was probably the order. Eliminate everyone even the children if they were discovered. Dead men told no tales.

The Banchou and Taichou cursed in unison as they contemplated over putting out the fire or fighting the Nin. The children shrieked in terror and Sakura felt light headed with horror.

Then in a move that could also be considered suicidal she attracted the pissed off Nin's attention. She took the decision entirely out of their hands.

The Nin could not allow anyone to leave the building alive. She was closest to the door.

_If she ran he would have no choice but to come after her. _The two Yakuza would be free to save the children.

The Banchou saw the decision on her face. He roared his displeasure the second Sakura turned on her heel and raced for the door.

"Don't be an idiot!" The Taichou shrieked but she was already out of the door. The Nin's eyes snapped on to her fleeing form and with a narrowed glare he did exactly what she expected. Kicking the door shut behind him he locked the two Yakuza and the screaming children in the burning building. Sakura felt awful leaving them when there was a chance all of them could burn alive if the two men weren't competent enough but she had other things to worry about. Namely the Nin hunting her down.

**I'll ask you again until somebody gets it right. Is Kakashi in this chapter? ^.^**

**Leave a review on your way out?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Another chapter guys, let me know if you liked this one! **

Sakura fled for her life. The terrain was unfamiliar and worse in the dark, she had no way of knowing if she was heading for a trap. Her chaser was quick but relaxed like he had no doubts he would catch her eventually. She couldn't hear him at all! Just every once in a while she'd catch a gleam of a darker shadow flitting through the trees and the fear that image produced in her dispelled her exhaustion and only prompted her to run faster.

She needed to do something unexpected to throw him off her trail. As far as her chaser thought she was a civilian in the wrong place in the wrong time, if she kept running he'd get suspicious and get serious. So did she keep running and try to outrun a serious Nin or stop and try to outwit an unsuspecting one? She pretended to trip and that falter in her pace really did make her trip over an exposed tree root and she went crashing into the hard, scratchy ground. Black shadows crisscrossed over the ground and the rustling of the wind in the forest grove reminded her ironically of Konoha.

"Ah, ah you got so far as well."

She froze. That voice was not from behind her…where she would have expected her chaser to have come from. He hadn't…he hadn't gone around her to cut her escape off from the very start had he? Had she been only running towards him from the start and away from an illusion?

Something about that disinterested tone was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Replying would only give her position away and in a show of defiance she kept her mouth shut and scrambled to her feet.

"Staying quiet won't help you." The man's voice chided her from above her. Her head snapped up in shock. A figure lounged upside down on a tree branch, dark clothing making him almost invisible against the background.

She clenched her fist. Did she revert to being a kunoichi or pretend to be a civilian a little longer? She had to get away fast, what wouldn't the man be expecting?

One…he wouldn't be expecting a civilian to attack him head on, but he was much more skilled and she'd probably die within five seconds. Two…an exploding tag to blind him temporarily while she escaped? It'd give her a few seconds but he'd chase her down with a vengeance as her secret would be revealed. How far was she from Tanzaki Gai? If she remembered correctly it was on the East of the forest and if she could only see the Moon she could orient herself.

There was a dark flash out the corner of her eye. What…he was that fast? But she had just blinked and he had been on the tree. She gazed up in disbelief, the figure was still there…worst possible conclusion there were two Nin and both of them wanted to kill her. And being fooled by this one meant the other one caught her. Her heart quickened slightly.

"I'm curious little kunoichi." The Nin's words filled her with dread, how had he known? "Can you stop yourself from being executed?" His words were soft and curious, like he didn't care if she lived or died. "Give me a good show."

It didn't sound like the second Nin was going to interfere but it be the height of stupidity to trust whatever he was saying. No Missing Nin would let a genin take back knowledge of their location and status back to the village.

But the other one was _definitely _trying to kill her so in this situation she had no choice but to believe that the second Nin would watch. How had he even got up there and hung upside down? She couldn't hear the crack of the wood breaking so it wasn't spikes in the bottom of his shoes. A flash of memory came back to her about Nin in Konoha leaping over roofs and trees in flashes of colour, it could be the same technique here.

The first Nin would never believe that a civilian girl would do a ninja technique and therefore he wouldn't look for her in the trees. He'd pass by underneath and she'd only have to worry about the second one. She crouched and leapt up to the first low hanging branch above her head. Her fingers wrapped around the prickly bark and she swung her feet up one at a time before reaching out for the next branch.

She thought she heard a low chuckle before it all went to hell.

An iron grip fastened around her ankle nearly crushing it before she was dragged down yelping. Well nearly, in her blind momentary panic her chakra lashed out and it forced out through her hands. The wood under her grip exploded with the force of a small bomb. She cried out as the branch she was clutching on to disintegrated into sharp wood chips and her face and arms was bleeding as she was thrown clear. Her ankle really was broken being wrenched from its hold like that. Hot agony burst from the broken bone but she couldn't afford to lie on the ground and be a victim.

Her blood was hot on her skin. _Her blood. _Someone was trying to kill her and if he succeeded that was it for her.

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

She gasped as she nearly doubled over at the weight of the killing intent released from the wounded and furious Nin. Her vision already dark, gained white and bright flashes and a static ringing pierced her ears. It felt like blades were scraping over her skin, the fear the technique produced couldn't be rational!

_Ba-dump. Ba-dump._

She saw the Nin stride over to where she was frozen, letting her see his feet slowly approach her. It was a cruelty to let her see him coming but not his face or hands or to let her show how she would die. That way she didn't die with any peace of mind.

"You're trained in the ninja arts then…"His voice was a low hiss, filled in disdain and a horrible sickening amusement. "A little child has no right to wear the mark of a shinobi."

She couldn't reply, the pressure on her chest was too much. She gasped for breath. She could taste iron in her mouth and strangely it comforted her.

Her collar was gripped and she was raised in the air to the Nin's eye level. Her ankle dangled painfully and she gripped his hold to stop him from dropping her on her broken ankle. His face was mostly in shadow but a mop of blonde hair peeked out under the bandages. His eyes were apathetic, his fury already faded away like a ripple.

She was so terrified that her mind began to clear.

"Put me down." She asked calmly.

He put a jagged, _serrated_, knife to the edge of her eye. She could feel the points digging into the flesh but they didn't draw any blood yet.

"Which village?" He asked once.

"Put me down." She repeated not knowing and not thinking of anything else to say.

And her face was on fire. She bit down on her lip, her cheek burning red hot in the cold air. The blood felt odd running down her cheek and down her neck and its taste was rancid in the back of her throat.

"_Which _village?" The Nin asked calmly. "Next time it'll be your eye."

First demonstrating he wouldn't hesitate to hurt her then telling her the consequences of not obeying. He was _dangerous._

Sakura spat her blood in his face. Her lip had nearly been bitten through and her aim was perfect, his eyes got splattered with her blood and he jerked back for a second.

It was human nature to protect the eyes, as soon as he felt his eyes get irritated the Nin dropped Sakura and wiped at them frantically. She landed awkwardly on her ankle, holding back a scream of pain and with a vague plan in mind her hand shot out and hit his knee channelling the rest of her chakra down it in one explosive rush.

She didn't see what happened next due to the dark but there was an awful crack and ripping and she distantly heard pieces of something hit the ground around her. Something splashed her on her throat. There was screaming in her ears and she was surprised to note it wasn't her.

The Nin collapsed clutching his disfigured leg and now his face was lined in absolute fury. The pain of her face wound stopped her from collapsing from under his sky rocketing blood lust, she should have been in shock. Instead she felt calm. Like to _save her life _she would do it again to his other knee and not feel the faintest bit of regret.

There was an awful sound of steel scraping against bone.

The bloodlust vanished.

She stared in mild shock.

A gleaming length of steel pierced the man's crown and exited from the fleshy part under the jaw.

He was undeniably dead and the corpse toppled sideways almost silently as the blade was withdrawn with a scrape.

"Bravo." The second Nin's voice was almost a whisper. "Bravo little kunoichi."

"He was…your comrade?" Her voice was a whisper to match his. It felt wrong to talk normally in the forest, she had the feeling that anybody could listen in then.

The Nin didn't reply and only stared down at her covered in blood and who knows what else.

Was he going to kill her too? It wouldn't be very difficult.

She steeled herself, this uncharacteristic determination giving her strength. She didn't even know she could be this calm and collected in the face of death.

The Nin knelt to her level giving her a clear view of him. It didn't help, some sort of a mask wrapped around the lower half of his face and his hair was tucked under a hood. Only the man's eyes were visible; a cold black like a frozen lake at midnight.

Those were not nice eyes.

She fought a tremble, this man scared her much more than the other one ever had. Instinctively she knew this man was more terrible by far.

He reached out a gloved hand and she regained her senses. She moved back and her ankle flared painfully.

"I don't make it a habit to kill children." His voice was low and a slight tilt of mockery could be heard. "Why would I save a person I was intending to kill?"

She paused. That was true. Was he an ally? An ally pretending to be an enemy? She couldn't do anything even if she wanted to, exhaustion was setting in from her run and fight. The man's eyes were coldly amused in the way that he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Dark green light lit up his fingers and she blinked at the medical chakra coating his fingers. But he wasn't injured…?

He held the chakra to her cheek and she froze. It was such a weird feeling, feeling her flesh knit back together without a scar. She touched her cheek in amazement and felt no weeping gash. While she was still dumbstruck at the thought of a missing Nin healing her the man had moved on to her ankle and she felt the pain recede.

He brushed the dirt from his thighs and straightened.

"Why did you do that?" She asked warily pulling herself to her feet. He had _no _reason to help her at all.

He fixed her with a cool look, "You put up a good show." His mask shifted as if he was smirking, "That is all."

"Who are you?" She asked. His reasoning was that he healed her on a whim? Then would he change his mind on a whim too?

"It's rude to ask for a name without giving one." The man replied absentmindedly.

She stayed silent.

A faint unreadable expression flitted across his eyes.

"I wouldn't tell anyone about this if I were you Kunoichi." He drawled suddenly tone hinting of light violence. "Any of it."

"Why?" Her eyes narrowed, "Why should I protect you?"

"You tell me." And his eyes were piercing like he was waiting for an answer.

She frowned and her adrenaline high brain kicked in.

"You'll kill me?" She tried once just as a precaution. But that didn't make sense after what had happened and it came out more as a rhetorical question. Recognising this, the man stayed silent.

Well obviously people would know where he was and that could bring problems for him…but she didn't think the man was weak enough to care about that. If sensei found out he wouldn't send ANBU after the man, she thought…Or maybe he didn't want anyone to know he was here? But that should have just meant him telling her to tell anyone about him not the incident. Why didn't he want people to know about the other Nin?

_He's healed you once already, what if this isn't for his benefit?_

Her benefit? If people found out about the situation they would ask…why the man helped her…They wouldn't believe her it was on a whim because _people just didn't do that!_ They'd think she was an accomplice or that she had ties to missing Nin. So if she left out the part about the man and then they'd ask how Sakura managed to kill a Nin on her own with such brutality. After all everyone admitted she was the weak one on the team, they'd start whispering that _maybe she wasn't a genin after all,_ maybe she needed to be taken in to get the full story and then she'd get in trouble for leaving the man out. The only situation where she didn't get her career and life ruined was if she shut up about what had happened and pretended the Nin lost her in the dark and no one would ever find out about the fact he had died.

But _why _was he doing this for her benefit?

Surely he'd want her to ruin her life? This made no sense!

"_Why?"_ She demanded. And this time the question held a different weight altogether.

"Must I have a reason?" The man asks mildly, _dangerously. _Every single alarm went off ringing in her head, who was winning here? Was it her deciding not to tell anyone to save her life and to stop herself from being removed from her team? Or was it him whose identity, presence and motives remained unclear with her decision? He instantly shot up her threat list and lodged there quite firmly at number two, for angry Obito was and still is the scariest thing she'd seen in her life.

"Maybe I just want to see how high you can soar before plummeting."

And those words chilled her to the bone as the man vanished like a shadow, his presence still lingering behind long after he was gone leaving her in a dark forest with a corpse cooling by her side.

Then she remembered the two Yakuza with some vague importance before it slammed back into her brain. They were _burning alive._ She scrambled to her feet, grabbed the serrated blade the Nin had put to her eye and scrambled back the way she had come. The sound of running water interrupted her and she froze.

Did that mean Zabuza had been telling the truth after all?

Which meant _Obito _was nearby! With water jutsus!

She tilted her head back and screamed. A hoarse cry like ash and smoke had charred her throat black and she thought she could hear the last bits of fear in that cry from her near death experience.

Her cry faded away like a stone dropped in a pond and her heart picked up its pace and she strained for any sound or sign her team were nearby.

A minute.

Fear made her lips dry and she carried on running towards the hut. How long before carbon monoxide inhalation was fatal?

Something smashed out of the trees on her left and into her so that all her breath was driven out of her. Cold steel cut into her throat and a hand fisted in her hair as she was completely pinned down by the unknown assailant. She wanted to weep, not again!

Then her attacker paused.

"Sakura?!"

And Obito was helping her up bafflement written in ever line of his face. Naruto and Sasuke skidded into the picture and both their jaws dropped open at seeing Sakura.

"You should be with the Banchou!" Naruto accused shrilly.

"They're trapped in a burning hut!" Sakura latched on to Obito's Jonin vest desperation staining her tone. "Can you help them?!"

Obito looked down at her and towards a rising column of red smoke.

"Ah." Was all that he said.

And she was flying at immense speeds in a vortex of black and green, bile rose to the back of her throat again and her knees nearly gave out as she slammed into solid ground. Sasuke steadied her looking very pointedly at a tree in the opposite direction to her and her pride flared at accepting his help.

"Shunshin." Naruto told her shortly as he stared at the burning hut in a mild awe.

The Banchou and Taichou each had children in their arms as they coordinated with wet scarves to get the frozen stiff children out. Sweat ran down the sides of their faces and scorch marks decorated most of their clothes. A gaggle of shivering children clumped together in the grass watching their prison burn.

The Yakuza caught sight of the Nin and raised seven fingers. _Seven _children still trapped.

Her sensei's eyes went a furious bleeding red. He drew in a deep breath and seals flickered through his fingers.

"_Suiton: Uzumaku Gouka no Ame!" _He roared and shields of water spun into life around the burning building. They spun and rose ever higher so that when the tips of the shields touched forming a hemisphere the entire structure collapsed burying the fire in the weight of the water.

Sakura shrieked. There were children in there! What was Obito thinking?

But when the hissing smoke cleared there was no trace of the water left. The wood wasn't even damp.

Obito grinned at her. "I don't have the energy to sustain the water for more than a few seconds." He explained. "So they put out the fire and." He wiggled his fingers and mouthed poof. "Boys get the kids would you?"

Naruto and Sasuke rushed to obey. Sakura moved to follow them but Obito stopped her. "Ahh I think Miyake wants to talk with you."

Sakura winced and drooped. Oh no.

"_What?_" Came a deathly whisper behind her. "W_as that Genin?_"

Sakura shrunk further into herself. Obito raised an eyebrow. "I must admit I do want to know why my kunoichi was screaming in the middle of the forest clutching a blade that isn't hers." He placed a hand on her shoulder supporting her.

"Oh." The Banchou answered casually. "It's probably belongs to the Missing Nin she lured out by acting as _bait_!"

Obito's grip grew painful before he realised and let go.

"What?" he asked calmly.

"What have you been teaching your student Uchiha?" Miyake snarled at Obito fingers spread in fury. "Did you teach her to act as a sacrifice and lure dangerous killers after her into places where she could be killed?"

Obito stared at Sakura demanding an explanation.

"What were you thinking?!" The Banchou roared at Sakura. "You should have died tonight! That's how stupid you were."

"You couldn't fight him and save the children at the same time." Sakura's voice was very small.

"And so you decided to jump in?" The man asked scathingly. "I can't imagine how you thought that was helping us, what with us worrying your throat would be cut any minute."

Hey she had been terrified of that too!

"What happened to the Nin Sakura?" Obito asked, a rare tightness to his voice. With a flap of his hand he drew Naruto and Sasuke towards them.

Sakura's grip tightened on the serrated blade.

"What happened?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're about to find out what happens when you try and 'protect' someone." Obito answered and looked at Sakura.

"I'm not a traitor." Sakura blurted. "I swear I'm not."

The Banchou clucked his tongue in irritation. "Accusing you of being stupid is not the same as accusing you of being a traitor Pinky."

"No." Sakura looked at him. "There was a second Nin."

And the sharply drawn breaths told her exactly how much trouble she could have been in. It made her feel really small and lucky.

She tilted her head back. "He said he wasn't going to interfere and I didn't realise the first Nin wasn't him and so the first one had time to catch up. I tried climbing a tree but when he grabbed me my chakra did something weird."

"Did it explode the bark by any chance?" Obito interrupted quietly.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded at him. "So he caught me. Realised I was a ninja and cut my face to get me to tell him where I was from." Five pairs of eyes flitted to her mark free face and more than one eyebrow was raised.

"I spat blood in his face." Sakura coughed, "He dropped me and uhh I may have blown his knee out?"

There was a moment of silence before a harsh chortle filled the air.

The Banchou was laughing. Even Obito's lips were twitching in a valiant attempt to stay serious. The Taichou had given up and was sniggering in the background obviously listening in.

"So." Obito's voice was strained. "Let me get this straight. He had a knife to your face and was seconds away from torturing you when you decided to blow his knee out like a good little captive?"

She spied a quick glimpse of her team mate's faces and they looked they had been told the sky was red and that unicorns existed. A brief surge of vicious satisfaction welled up in her, well…that had answered the question whether she could handle herself hadn't it.

"Then the other Nin stabbed him through the head." Sakura effectively cut all the humour in the group with a razor sharp blade. "And he healed my ankle and face...and he left." She admitted very quickly.

Sasuke's "Well that makes no sense." Started the debate.

"What the fuck." Came a helpful contribution from Naruto. "Was that Zabuza then? The freaking Devil of the Mist?"

"Naruto as you pointed out his nickname is Devil not domestic kitten." Obito murmured distractedly.

The Banchou snapped his fingers at Obito. "Did you find anything useful?"

"Well." Obito allowed. "The place mentioned on the note is about a mile down river. And the only thing there is a very angry pair of beavers. Let's just count this Zabuza as a wild card for now. But this other Nin is making me nervous."

"Maybe he just a sense of morals." Sasuke suggested folding his arms over his chest.

"Unlikely." The Taichou called out. "Then he would have helped Sakura straight away."

"It's ok." Naruto assured Sakura. "No one here thinks you have any funny business with missing Nin." He smiled and Sakura felt some of the weight on her shoulders disappear. "The fact you didn't have your headband on probably saved you from quite a few nasty fates tonight." This time his smile was tight.

Obito was conversing with the Banchou in low voices when he raised his voice slightly.

"Kiddies, back to Baa-san's house. It's late and I do want to teach you something tomorrow."

"We're not done here?" Sakura blinked. "We got the kids back."

"There's nothing stopping Gato from just taking them again." Sasuke pointed out dark eyes inscrutable.

"Kiddies." Obito sang.

"Hai, hai we're going Obito-Nii." Naruto sighed.

As the three of them walked through the forest, ducking under branches Sakura became aware that Sasuke was angry. It really didn't take a genius to figure out who he was mad at.

"I do wish Obito had let us stay for the next part." Naruto spoke wistfully hands in pockets breaking the silence suddenly.

"The next part?" Sakura asked taking the bait as the blond boy obviously wanted some conversation.

Sasuke laughed and Sakura shivered despite herself. There was so much irony and bitterness in that laugh and she saw Naruto's eyes flick towards his childhood friend in concern.

"No Naruto." Sasuke was still emitting little terrible chuckles. "No you really don't." And Sakura was reminded of the wealth of information kept private between the male members of her team as Naruto immediately looked slightly sick. Her imagination was filling in what the three men were going to do quite well.

So Sasuke knew what it was like did he? What kind of a past did he have?

"Sasuke." Naruto spoke casually but that one word had a wealth of meaning to it.

Sasuke stopped walking for a second then carried on. Naruto's voice was noticeably cooler.

"Sasuke."

She did _not_ want to be here if the two best friends were going to have an argument. Not when she didn't know where she stood with them.

Sasuke sped up almost disappearing into the darkness.

Naruto sighed. He sounded rather sad.

"Don't worry." He spoke slightly muffled. "He's just being an idiot."

She should have been glad someone was on her side. But all she felt was hollow.

Neither she nor Naruto was in the mood for much conversation that night and the awkward silence lasted until all three of them got back to Asari's house. Sasuke's finger brushed the knocker when there was gleam and he ducked abruptly, a few strands of black hair chopped off as a razor sharp wire shot out at an adult's throat level.

"She's insane!" He snarled a trace of shock lining his voice. "What if I was the milkman, she'd have killed me."

"Or maybe she thought you needed a new haircut." Sakura suggested snidely. "One that doesn't look the backside of a duck." Instead of braving more traps, she picked up a hefty stick and whacked the door several times.

"At least my hair won't get me labelled a fluorescent target." Sasuke hissed.

"I think I hear her coming." Naruto cut in forcefully cheerful. "Guys let's not start the arguing until Obito gets back. He's _trusting _us with this." A slight strain belied how stressed the blond boy was.

Sakura supposed she could do that. Grudgingly. But she did feel bad for how badly Naruto seemed to be taking dissention between them and her and Sasuke's eyes met. He nodded sharply then looked away. It was sort of sweet how protective the dark haired boy was of Naruto.

The door swung open. Miyake Asari stood there in what could have been a cute night gown if she hadn't sewn little decapitated heads into the hemline and neck. Sakura was torn between admiring the needlework and being horrified at her awful fashion sense and just settled for appreciating her sense of morbid humour.

Ino would have been horrified if she had seen the fashion disaster in front of her.

"Nice dress Baa-san." Naruto yawned as he passed her stretching his arms. "Mind if we crash for a bit?"

Asari frowned lines on her face darkening. "You still haven't made up." She made a noise in the back of her throat. "It's not my business anymore." She warned, "But I had a genin team once. It is disastrous if a team does not pull together out of the village." And Team 7 was reminded that she too was a shinobi. She sighed then threw a hand up. "First door on the second floor. Sleep well children."

…..######################################################...

The sound of the door clicking shut woke all of them up at the same time. None of them could sleep well, flashes of icy black eyes kept flashing across Sakura's vision every time she closed her eyes. Silently they raised their heads listening for further confirmation.

Finding what they were listening for, all of them jumped out of their futons and scrambled over each other to get downstairs.

Obito looked up in mild surprise, a smile curving his handsome features. The Banchou spared them one glance and a nod before retreating into the kitchen dragging Obito behind him talking about logistics.

"Obito-Nii." Naruto drew the word out. "You said you'd teach us today!" He followed Obito like a lost duckling, eyes bright and eager like a puppy's.

"I did, didn't I?" Obito answered idly. His dark eyes crinkled at the corners. "Right after breakfast then. We're just waiting for Gato to respond after all."

"Respond?" Sasuke took a seat at the table.

"Well we cleared out his base." The Banchou admitted with a sharp grin accepting the breakfast Asari passed him. "It'll take a day or two for the news to get to Gato and you Nin travel fast I admit. Tomorrow we deal with the next wave."

"So it's under your control now?" Sakura tucked herself beside Naruto accepting her portion.

"Oh no." The man shrugged. "We left it empty."

Obito suppressed a snort.

The two wicked expressions on both men's faces let them know that it was _not _empty by any means.

After breakfast Obito led them to the very edge of the forest.

Sakura had a flash of inspiration. "Are you going to teach us what I failed to do last night?"

"Almost." Obito held up two fingers which were almost touching. "You know how I had you practice parkour until you all fell asleep of exhaustion?"

And he was understating what he had made them do. The first night Sakura had been dragged to stay with them Obito had done something to the Uchiha compound and then taught them how to fall correctly, climb up sides of buildings like monkeys until they could run freely through the compound in the straight line under and over any obstacles. They were all quite raw at it as the muscles needed for parkour were different to the muscles needed for sparring and taking hits, but she definitely knew she was lighter, faster and more agile than before.

"_I'm not going to teach you to fight." Obito paced up and down the courtyard. "I am going to teach you to run away so that you survive what people throw at you. When I'm satisfied with your running away skills, then we'll work on your attack skill. It's not glamourous but hey it works."_

Obito grinned. "Now I'm going to teach you to combine parkour and chakra." He clapped his hands to distract them and vanished in the blink of an eye. The three of them immediately scattered.

Obito reappeared half way up a tree trunk clinging horizontally to the bark like gravity had tilted to the side.

"Channel chakra to the body part touching the surface." He lectured. "Not too little or you won't stick on, not too much or you'll be blasted off. But it won't be as much of a problem for you guys, the contact you make will be too brief for too much damage. And-" His grin grew wicked.

"Imagine parkour that defies physics." He said happily. "No one will be able to catch you if you get this down." He spun on his toe, tossed himself to another tree, swung around a branch, dropped twenty feet whooping before landing on his feet on a small knot in the wood, skidded into an upside down position and somersaulted until he hit the ground in front of the awed teens.

"Traditional method is that you walk straight up a tree." Obito scoffed brushing himself down. "That's boring and unpractical, when are you going to need to walk straight up a tree? This is going to develop your timing and control far better. And it expands your physical limits at the same time. Am I not the best sensei?" He boasted ego swelling.

He looked down expecting praise and blinked when he saw no one. All three of them were already jumping off trees and through branches with some spectacular crashes. Sakura tried to keep her balance on a rounded branch, applied too much chakra too late and fell ten feet into Naruto who squawked miraculously applying just enough chakra to stay on the branch and keep Sakura steady before Sasuke, who had of course gone higher in the trees, fell out of the sky and sent all three of them tumbling down with scratches galore.

Obito winced. His wince turned wistful as he remembered his own team trying and failing to get the traditional exercise down. Well two thirds of them had. He shook his memories away chiding himself for getting distracted, what if one of his genin fell and needed his help and he was too slow to stop them from getting injured? What kind of sensei would he be?

He was secretly proud of the fact that Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have agreed to stop the fighting for Naruto's sake for the time being. But if they didn't make up for real soon he was going to have to step in and that was never fun dealing with angry genin.

He sighed. Even the blue sky and cool breeze couldn't make him lose the tiny irrational fear that his team _wouldn't _make up. And he would be teacher of a thoroughly splintered unit.

"_Eh history repeats Obito-baka." A silver haired boy looked at him condescendingly. "Haven't you picked anything up? Just look at the wars we've had and the vicious cycles we keep going in."_

_His genius of a team mate grimaced and nodded at a green blur flying around the dirt tracks. "And idiots like Maito only add to it." His dark eyes were pensive and Obito realised with some surprise that the boy was troubled._

_He was used to Kakashi being a wall of control that he had nearly forgotten the boy had emotions and insecurities like the rest of them._

"_Do you believe in cycles Baka?" He asked quietly._

"_No." Obito had replied firmly. "Because if life worked like that I would have the Sharingan and be a prick like the rest of my family. I break the mould and if there were cycles that wouldn't happen."_

_Kakashi closed his eyes and his mask twisted slightly to show a small smile. "Hmm."_

That had been three weeks before he had snapped and splintered their unit forever.

Obito's lips twisted bitterly.

_Bastard._

Had they not been good enough for the famed genius?

An elated cry interrupted his thoughts and he realised with some anger that he had been doing the exact thing he had been trying not to do.

Sakura waved to him upside down from a tree as she skipped from tree to tree all upside down. This time his smile was more genuine as he yelled congratulations and instructions to help the other two.

….##############################################...

After a few hours all of them had the exercise down pat and Obito as a treat had given them money to go buy lunch in the town.

Sakura wove around a worker carrying a steel beam and her blood ran cold.

_Zabuza Momochi _sat there at a little table outside a café serenely drinking a cup of tea. He saw her and raised his hand in greeting.

She grabbed one of her team mate's arm, who turned out to be Sasuke just her luck. Before he could snap at her to let go she breathed.

"That's Momochi." Sasuke's jaw snapped shut and he and Naruto exchanged a quick look. Then his dark eyes dragged across her face and he nodded very reluctantly. The three of them made their way over and pulled up three chairs opposite the dark haired man.

"Saki-san." Zabuza raised an eyebrow. "And you must be her team." He smiled and extended a hand for them to shake. The green tea in his cup steamed lightly into the air.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked roughly. "You gave that name on purpose."

Zabuza's facial expression warped slightly into one of mild confusion and he raised an eyebrow at Sakura silently asking and sympathising with her.

"Excuse-"

"Zabuza Momochi." Naruto rattled off like he was reading a grocery list. "Ex Kiri nin. Eight million bounty last updated, no kekkei genkei, swords men of the mist. You're not him, don't bother."

Both boys glared at the utterly unfazed man who merely sipped his drink.

"This is coming from the team mates of _Saki-san_?" He asked dryly and Sakura flushed. "I'm well aware of how Nin work. Shall we try again hmm?"

"Sakura." Sakura muttered.

"Sasuke."

"Naruto."

The man nodded. "Firudo." His smile was lazy. "Nice to meet you but I say I'm not sorry for the deception. I didn't know whether I could trust you, you see."

How on earth had that man managed to turn it around with two sentences? Now the conversation was geared towards proving _their _trustworthiness instead of his.

"So you decided to introduce yourself as the Demon of the Mist and you're saying you thought we're shady?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Well it couldn't be traced back to me naturally." Firudo reasoned. Sakura had been right, he must be terrifying as a lawyer. "And no one would believe Sakura." He tilted his head towards the pinkette. "If you said you met Momochi in Tanzaki Gai when he's currently in Wave causing a fuss. But you did it." He grinned and he looked years younger. "You freed those kids so I've decided I can trust you now."

Team 7 stared at him.

This was not going in the direction they thought it was going to go.

"Your information was wrong." Sakura tried not trusting herself not to burst out in hysterical laughter. They had spent so long agonising over whether Zabuza had been an enemy, ally or neither and he turned out to have been a paranoid civilian.

Firudo rolled his eyes. "Oh yes point out that the person who warned you about the mess that his map reading skills are a bit rusty. It was about in the correct place wasn't it?"

"You've just dunked all our theories down the drain." Naruto muttered looking slightly dejected.

Obito had said they had cleared the place. All civilians went home after work, it was only the guards and Nin who would have been left. More evidence Firudo was actually what he said he was; a civilian lawyer.

Sasuke laced his fingers and stared at Firudo in a simmering silence.

"Anyway it's a good thing you didn't leave." Firudo took a sip of his drink and spun the cup in his hands idly. "Word is that Gato is sending the actual Momochi to clear up the mess."

"That was fast." Sakura narrowed her eyes. "How has the information reached Gato already?"

"There are things such as business walkie talkies to keep track of branch businesses you know." Firudo answered her dryly. "Consider it an apology for scaring you I suppose." He pushed his chair back and shrugged on a jacket.

"If you panicked at a fake Momochi." He spoke cheerfully. "I wonder what brilliance you'll put out of your hat at the real one. I recommend the sandwiches here by the way." With a last huff of laughter Firudo walked away hands in pockets.

Naruto snapped his fingers at Sakura. "Why do you always meet the weird ones?" His tone was semi wondering.

"Momochi huh." Sasuke's teeth shone slightly as his lips pulled back. "If we beat him then Gato will probably give up."

She was sure Naruto had mentioned an _eight million bounty. _She said so out loud and both boys just gave her a look screaming 'Your point?' She gave up at that point and ordered sandwiches. No one on her bloody team was normal.

The sandwiches had better be good.

**Hehe, Is Kakashi in **_**this **_**one? Review?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Sorry for the late update so you can have two thousand words more as an apology. This is the Wave arc finished now so don't expect any updates until I've finished writing the next arc (this might take me a month or a week depending on inspiration) but I'll give you a clue. It's about one of the Kekkei genkei in Konoha. This isn't going to follow Canon warning guys, it'll take canon elements but the overall story isn't canon compliant.**

Obito had his head in his hands. "I'm absolutely positive I have taught you to exercise caution." He groaned into his hands. "What if Firudo had actually been a Nin in disguise you brats?"

"That's why we approached him in a café surrounded by lots of people." Sasuke shot his cousin down brutally hands over his chest as the younger members faced their sensei at the Miyake kitchen table. That just made Obito groan something about foolish and idiotic genin while his spine slumped more over the wood.

"Look on the bright side." The Banchou set his chop sticks down and wiped at his mouth. "Momochi is _famous _for working alone. Even the Seven Swordsmen couldn't get rid of that trait. We'll be dealing with one opponent at least."

Obito mumbled something.

"Consider it karma." The Banchou picked himself off the floor. "You were a right terror to your sensei I bet." His eyes pierced the three genin and his lips thinned into a sour line. "I release you from this contract." He spoke suddenly. "Take your team back before they die Uchiha."

"What!" Naruto and Sasuke cried. "We don't want to abandon this!"

"I hired you to lie for me." The man's voice was a low growl. "I never hired you to die for me."

Sakura felt the first stirrings of discontent in her stomach.

"Hold on we were perfectly ready to take on Momochi when we didn't know whether he was real or not." She pointed out. "But now that we know he is we're not?"

Naruto pointed at her. "Exactly!"

"We refuse to go back." Sasuke finished firmly.

Obito perked up. There was a gleam in his eyes that Sakura didn't like.

"Did I hear right?" He asked gleefully. "All of you refuse to go back?" He looked just like a dog wagging his tail.

"Yes." Sasuke confirmed. Naruto nodded beside him, Sakura mouthed the word but didn't say it out loud.

Obito grinned and dropped his head back to where he had perked up. "Well that settles it doesn't it Miyake?"

"_What_." The Banchou snapped. "I thought you wanted your team to live Uchiha?"

Obito flapped a hand in the air lazily. "Oh they're not coming within ten feet of the fight." They could all see the smirk on his face. "But doesn't the sound of that team work absolutely make your day?"

Sakura hadn't noticed. She actually hadn't. But just then Sasuke had used the team 'we' with her included in _it._ For the first time in a good long while they had all been in agreement without any of them compromising. It made her feel all warm inside before she poured cold water over it.

Accident. Probably.

The Banchou's jaw dropped before he hastily snapped his jaws together.

"I. What…Ninja!" He growled sounding very pissed before whirling on the genin. "Your teacher is mad." He spoke very calmly as if trying to reign in his temper.

"Cousin." Sasuke smirked ever so slightly. "It's genetic I'm afraid."

"And it rubs off on people." Naruto grabbed Sakura by the shoulders and beamed at the Banchou.

The man stared at them honestly at a loss.

"They're not children." Obito helpfully piped up, then his tone took on a darker tint. "They're soldiers of the leaf. Don't forget that. Now shall we consider some strategies for dealing with a sword wielding madman?"

"You know." Sasuke's tone was suddenly innocent and four sets of suspicious eyes alighted on him in an instant. "Keeping track of a giant hunk of metal seems like a good way to activate _that_ don't you think?"

"Nice try, but _no_." Obito snorted.

"We can ambush him at the building." The Banchou pointed out idly. "He has to go get information about whoever did it. Between you, me and my vice we should be able to keep him in check. Your kids, on the off case Zabuza isn't alone, can keep a watch and interfere if they think they can take the second person."

Obito pointed at the space opposite him. "That is not a plan." He said flatly. "_Sit_. Tell your Taichou to set a perimeter up for foreign guests and to alert us immediately. Kiddies, be ready to leave in a moment's notice."

…#############################################################...

The alert didn't come for another three hours. The three genin had practically worn a hole in Asari's floor by that time. The woman herself had taken one look at them and enlisted them to chop vegetables for dinner.

"Now!" A sudden snarl came from the living room after a burst of static.

Their sensei and the Banchou slipped into the kitchen and Sakura braced herself for the Shunshin that she knew was coming.

"Oh I miss those days." The old woman mourned. "Getting up at absurd hours, only to run for miles and then fighting the boy the next village over you had a crush on." Her knife hit the carrot far too hard and the vegetable part shot away like a bullet and hit the wall.

"Mother I assure you." The Banchou leant to kiss his mother on the cheek. "None of us have a crush on Zabuza."

"Well it's about time you had one!" Asari swatted at her son.

"What? And subject another poor soul to the horror of you?" The Banchou snarked back. "No thank you. Uchiha what are you waiting for? Leave!"

Obito scowled and tuned him out. Sakura did imagine it must be difficult transporting five people. Then she noticed the great cloth covered thing the Banchou was holding. It was easily as long as she was tall but slim as her wrist. It must have been his favoured weapon, no intelligent person would fight against a sword wielder with their bare hands.

Then before nervousness had time to properly kick in her surroundings disappeared in a haze of grey and black.

This time when she landed she was proud to say she didn't stumble. Obito cocked two fingers at them and Team 7 with one last glance at their sensei turned around and flitted towards the outer edge of the building. Obito and Miyake crept to the walls and ducked around corners towards the tunnel where Zabuza was most likely to be.

"He'll be fine." Naruto whispered to Sasuke. "He's tough, you know he is."

Sasuke sent him a mildly shocked look. "If Obito didn't lose against _him, _he won't lose against Zabuza. Elite nin or no." The three of them crept along the wall and Naruto used the blade of a kunai to peer around the corner. Sakura's heart thudded, this was different to when she and the Yakuza had infiltrated the very same building.

Nothing but bare plaster and a row of doors. Sakura exhaled feeling some of the nervousness leave her. What had the Banchou said? Zabuza was famous for working alone.

Sasuke signalled for her to run to the other side of the corridor. She did so using her kunai as a mirror all the time. Spotting a flash of orange on the ceiling, she saw Naruto with a kunai in his mouth crawling on the ceiling like a giant spider. He grinned when he saw her and faded out of sight with a henge.

Huh. That was smart.

Unfortunately that left her and Sasuke working 'alone'. But she told herself that she could be professional and have control.

They completed a full circuit of the outermost corridors with no incidents and so moved inwards for a smaller circuit of the more inner parts of the building. Suddenly out of the blue the whole building rocked on its foundations with a noise that sounded like a thunderbolt striking home at a very close distance. Her ears rang and the vibrations were making her eyes shake in her skull. What the-

"Well." Naruto's voice floated down. "At least we know Firudo was telling the truth this time as well."

Three corridors down something that wasn't plaster or door reflected off Sasuke's kunai. Immediately he held up a hand to stop Sakura from moving forward and tried to get a better view of the object or person. Both of them didn't bother henging, henge was delicate and the image needed to be maintained. If they henged themselves as their surroundings it would constantly need to be updated as they moved. Naruto on the ceiling had a far easier job of it as it was all an off white colour.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the image and invited Sakura to take a look. She bent over his shoulder to inspect what he found so curious. A slender, effeminate Yakuza leant against the wall head to the wall, eyes closed and fingers tapping out a tune.

The two team mates genuinely forgot their still ongoing argument and stared at each other in slight disbelief.

There was no reason for any Yakuza other than the Banchou or the Taichou to be here. The Banchou had given a very specific order…so that man (woman?) wasn't anyone under the Banchou's command. The only other possibility that was left was-

Sasuke's mouth was hard and she knew what he was thinking.

"You can come out you know." The effeminate man suddenly spoke out loud. "I mean no harm."

Damn his (her) voice was so soft it didn't really help in identifying their gender.

Sakura and Sasuke slid off their headbands and stepped out warily. It was not a good sign that they had been detected so easily. To their surprise the man was younger than they had thought, just older than them thereabouts. Sakura was going to go with he was a man because the Adam's apple was slightly more prominent than most females.

The boy smiled kindly. "Lost? This isn't a place for children." As if he had given a cue the building rocked again more violently with a vehement crash.

"You're our age." Sasuke pointed out carefully kunai tucked behind his back.

"Humour me." The boy's smile grew a bit wider. It was a lie, to him they really were children. Zabuza would never work with anyone incompetent so the boy was capable of impressing a man with the nickname of 'Devil.' "Ah." The boy said suddenly peering at Sasuke. "You tricked me. You're related to the man giving Zabuza-sama trouble aren't you?" He didn't sound that angry at all, more resigned and expectant if anything.

Seeing as their game was up both Sasuke and Sakura withdrew their kunai in a stance.

The boy eyed them indulgently like an older brother watching a younger sibling fumble something trivial. He raised one finger and pointed at the ceiling. "It's rude not to show your face you know."

Naruto crashed from the ceiling eyes wide in shock. Sakura snapped her head up in disbelief. Had he disrupted Naruto's chakra control? Patches of ice melted off the ceiling trailing water down her cheek.

"Yuki." Naruto identified almost immediately leaping to his feet as Sasuke helped him up. "Bounties usually ranged from one to low three million but he could be an anomaly. Ice kekkei genkei."

"Yes." The boy mused. "It's been a while since my clan was in the bingo books." He sighed. "I really don't like fighting children." He mused. "But I suppose you will cause trouble for Zabuza Sama later so I'll take care of you now. Don't worry." He smiled kindly. "I'm not a killer."

He snapped two fingers and the temperature dropped rapidly. Sakura felt her feet burn as ice formed over her ankles and heels to keep her pinned to place. It was as hard as iron and pretty much as strong.

"Goukakyuu no jutsu!" She heard Sasuke shout. Fire shot from his mouth in a great ball, scorching the sides of the tunnel. It utterly blinded the boy for a few crucial seconds and Sakura kawarimid out of her hold hurriedly kicking off the last bits of ice that had come with her. If he could form ice anywhere and anyhow he liked it left them at a _severe _disadvantage especially in this confined area.

Ice spread from where the boy was standing, their breath frosted in the air and despite themselves all three started to shiver. She never appreciated how bitter an enemy the cold was before.

"I wonder what you'll do if I keep lowering the temperature until your blood thickens enough to make you faint." The boy asked arms folded over his chest. "Or did you forget the human body is seventy percent water?"

Crash!

Sasuke's kunai slammed into a pane of ice hilt first. Cracks spread from the point of impact and the whole pane shattered into tiny pieces of diamond light between them and the ice wielder. And Sakura thought she saw flashes of orange wink out of existence.

"Even ice cracks." He recited as if quoting someone. "You just have to find its weak point."

"Haku." The boy said suddenly eyes following the falling drops of light in fascination. "Yuki Haku."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ah…you're of that tragic clan." Haku tilted his head back. "Being one of the last member of one's clan is a common thing nowadays so I'm afraid my sympathy is limited."

Sasuke grinned.

"Oh I don't want it." He replied quite conversationally as several shards of ice dropped their henge back into solid clones of Naruto who had Haku in a hold very quickly.

"Nice work distracting him." One of the Naruto's nodded at Sasuke. Sakura blinked and rubbed her eyes. Solid clones? Those were a thing now? Okay.

"Not bad." Haku's voice was muffled by the floor. "But I really can't disappoint Zabuza-sama." Ice exploded from his frame. All of the clones were dispersed at once and the sudden onset of the cold had Sakura dropping her kunai hurriedly as it grew far too cold to hold. Her fingers and toes felt numb like blocks of stone wrapped in skin.

Sasuke and Naruto backed a few spaces eyes narrowed. Haku brushed the icicles off his body, they clattered to the floor and rolled to the side. He pointed his finger and a rush of ice came for them.

Of course none of them were there. All the practice Obito had drilled into them came into use now, Sakura twisted off the ceiling into a roll behind Haku to bring her leg out in a sweep. Sasuke leapt over the ice itself carefully bounding over the razor sharp points only to bring his leg down on Haku's head. Slender pins of ice formed at the end of each finger and Haku threw them like senbon at Sasuke while jumping and spinning on one leg to brutally kick Sakura back into the opposite wall. Sasuke blocked hurriedly and Naruto came from his shadow duplicating, triplicating no four copies of him attacked the surprised Haku who had to fend off quite a lot of taijutsu in a short span of time. Suddenly his head snapped to the side.

"I can't play with you anymore." He sounded perfectly serious and Sakura didn't think it was the ice in the room that made her shiver. "Zabuza-sama needs me. I'll finish you all now. I'm sorry."

With that apology he made a series of one handed seals and stepped back. Ice pulled itself from the melting ice on the floor, walls and ceiling until Team 7 was surrounded by a dome of icy mirrors. They could see themselves reflected in a blur of black, cream, orange and pink and without their expressions visible they just looked like wraiths.

"Break the mirrors!" Sasuke roared to Naruto.

"I thought both of you had powerful kekkei genkei." It came out slightly sharper than she intended but neither looked offended.

"Did we not mention it?" Naruto chuckled sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Neither of ours is active." Pain flared down her arm and Sakura gasped as she saw numerous icy needles sticking out of her flesh. She hadn't even seen them be thrown. Both males yelped a second later as icy needles peppered them unexpectedly. It drowned out the utter helpless anger at their situation quite nicely and her head began to clear again.

"Naruto!" She yelled, "Can we get a fort here? Preferably a clear one."

"Ah sure Sakura. Kage Bunshin!" A legion of orange appeared and disappeared into a cube of square clear tiles. Now they were protected for a while at least against the senbon and they would know from which direction the attack was from.

"Sakura." Sasuke signalled to her ducking an array of senbon as one of the Naruto tiles popped. Naruto replaced it almost instantaneously. "I need all your exploding tags."

She handed them over instantly. "Some of them are time delay. What are you going to do?"

"Drop us through a floor." He replied tersely before priming a massive collection of tags and throwing them at the corner of their little fort. "His ice mirrors can't follow. Probably."

Before she could formulate more than Sasuke was entirely utterly crazy and it might just work the explosion ripped through the corridor in a blast of furious light, heat and sound. All of the Naruto tiles disappeared almost instantly, the light was blinding and Sakura felt the floor beneath lurch and buckle before it gave way and she fell shrieking down to the third floor from the fourth. She hit her shoulder hard almost breaking it and rolled to the side before any falling wood impaled her. Coughing she pulled herself to her feet, only for her to squeak as Naruto threw himself on top of her to avoid the sudden barrage of furious senbon. Where was he pulling these from anyway?

Sasuke was in a terrible shape having taken the brunt of the attack to save the other two. He bit his lip hard as he pulled foot long senbon out of his shoulders and arms. Blood dripped from his wounds and mixed with the water on the floor. He blinked at them both and his eyes were the same colour as his blood.

"You did it!" Naruto grinned from ear to ear. "Your Sharingan Teme!"

Sasuke blinked and touched his eyes almost reverently before a small smile twisted his lips.

The ceiling creaked ominously as a slender figure leapt down into the third floor. Sasuke moved almost on instinct in front of Sakura and Naruto.

"Well that is a new way to escape that technique." Haku mused. "We-

And Sasuke was shouting; a hoarse cry with words Sakura couldn't make out but Naruto _could._ In a rapid fire three way Kawarimi Sakura found herself forcibly swapped with Naruto and on the other side of the room with Naruto swapping to the other side. An ice cage slammed down on the position they had been in, ice easily penetrating three inches into the floor. Sasuke's Sharingan span in their sockets with a victorious glint.

Haku's eyes flicked towards where the fight between the adults was going on in slight concern.

"You're a prodigy of your clan aren't you?" Sasuke asked unholy gleam flitting through his eyes. His fingers spelled out a quick message to his team mates. _Get him to step back about five places._

Haku inclined his head slightly.

Sakura snuck over to Naruto quickly.

"Have you seen a landmine before?" She whispered urgently. Naruto looked at her like she was crazy.

"That's definitely going to get him to step back trust me." Sakura explained what one looked like and Naruto henged one of his clones into a blinking mine.

"Sasuke get back!" Naruto yelled before chucking the projectile so that it skidded just in front of Haku. The boy recognised it immediately and the skin of his face went chalk white. Sasuke leapt back. Haku leapt back and the mine was immediately encased in a solid block of ice. The effeminate boy let out a sigh of relief.

Sakura had a surge of relief. Sasuke had a plan.

"Katsu." Sasuke snapped his fingers.

Ahh. Some of her tags had been time delayed hadn't they? She had warned him about that.

The ceiling above the startled boy caved in an awful roaring ripping noise. Blocks of wood and cement smashed to the floor, breaking into dust and parts. The noise and dust was tremendous, she was actually starting to feel sick from all the noise bangs. When the rattling finally stopped there wasn't a ceiling anymore and Haku was lying ever so still with just his shoulders and head visible. Rubble covered the rest of him and Sakura didn't doubt that was a fatal wound what with the blood pooling under him.

Her mouth went dry. Sasuke hadn't even hesitated to inflict a mortal wound. The silence seemed deafening after the explosion and it seemed to press down on her.

"Why did you fight for him?" Naruto bless his kind heart had a furrow between his brows as he knelt next to the fatally wounded boy.

And maybe it was Sakura's imagination but she could have sworn she saw confused hatred in Haku's eyes. Then he smiled an awful hacking smile.

"You stopped me from helping Zabuza-sama." His voice grew weaker. "You stopped me from doing what I wanted. So I…will stop you getting what you want. There will…be…no answers…from me."

And the light in the last Yuki's eyes flickered out.

Surprisingly she felt no relief that their enemy was dead.

Sasuke merely stared at the body for a long time eyes dark and pensive.

"We should bury him." Naruto suggested trying to remove some of the rubble. But it was too heavy for him to even lift one inch. Sakura stopped him, it would not be a pretty sight beneath those rocks and wood shards. Naruto read that from her face and he sighed wearily hanging his head on his chest.

"Well damn." An unfamiliar voice spoke from the end of the corridor. "You brats actually beat Haku."

Sakura looked up and her chest seemed to be made of iron bars squeezing her insides together.

The picture in the bingo book had captured his likeness near perfectly but Zabuza Momochi in real life had all the intensity of a wild tiger which ink and paper just couldn't convey. An enormous sword was loosely clasped in one hand and the sheer arm strength to wield the monstrosity was boggling. She had made a little fun of wielding such a big weapon but it seemed to fit the man's bloodthirsty aura perfectly.

"Well." The man's bandages twisted as his mouth spelled out words none of them wanted to hear. "He was a rubbish tool if you broke him so easily." He took one step forward. All of them took one step back keeping their distance.

"He died with the aim of going to your aid." Naruto told him quietly, his voice flat.

"Still died." Zabuza rolled his neck, all lethal muscle and sinuous grace. "As I said; useless."

"Where's Obito?" Sasuke asked watching the man's every movement.

The Ex Kiri Nin bared his teeth behind his bandages. "Still tangling with the me upstairs. Last I saw him he was an arm and a leg down."

Lie. Sakura didn't waste her time believing what the Nin said. It was practically a given he would try and demoralise them.

"Clone." Naruto breathed looking at the man in a new light.

"Think you can take me brats?" The man asked casually pointing his sword at them.

"You were worried." Sakura babbled before clapping a hand over her mouth. The Nin's pin point swivelled to her.

"_Excuse me?_"

She swallowed. "I mean, you came looking for him right? Haku. Even when it spent your time and chakra, you were _concerned_." The scathing derision in his eyes stripped her to the bone.

"And I bet my cousin is ripping the original you a new one for doing that." Sasuke cut in words meant to be cutting. "Even the Devil of the Mist has a heart. _Pathetic. _In Konoha they actually give titles that reflect the person." Then he looked like he regretted his words very much as the Missing Nin's eyes narrowed to slits of fury.

Sakura couldn't breathe. There was a snake around her throat, hissing at her eyes. Her throat felt like it was restricting from the coils wrapping around her neck like a noose. A hissing sound filled her ears, she froze. The menacing silver glint in the snake's eyes seemed to swallow her whole as her vision went mostly steel.

There were two panicked shrieks and Sakura found herself slammed into the side as Sasuke dove for her. Zabuza's sword passed right through where she had been, he actually caught part of Sasuke's sandal and the bisected shoe flew to the other side of the corridor. Luckily beyond belief Sasuke's foot had been spared.

"Killing intent." Sasuke hissed as they scrambled up using the wall for a prop. "Don't look in his eyes. Ever."

"Why-"

"Because you're on our team dammit!" He roared. "That makes you our responsibility whether we like it or not." His eyes were smouldering in repressed frustration. "Anymore idiotic questions?"

Naruto's clones were being bisected left and right as the blond boy tried to buy them some time. Zabuza was at the centre of whirling steel looking almost bored as he cut down clone after clone.

"How on earth did Haku lose to you?" He muttered. "Your offensive capability is crap." He said that as Naruto bent under his blade, ran up the side of a wall, kicked off and spun in the air to get away from a vicious series of jabs. "Evasion isn't half bad though." The man's foot planted cleanly in Naruto's chest sending him flying down the corridor. He landed in a heap and went white in pain.

Broken rib Sakura guessed faintly. Sasuke's eyes went bright scarlet in fury. But the man was right. There was no way they could hope to match him offensive power for offensive power. And Obito was nowhere near to help them out.

Sakura just wound her fingers in the back of Sasuke's shirt as he leapt for the man stopping him from nearly having his head cut off with a nifty back blow of the famous blade. Her heart seemed like it was going to fly out of her chest any second but she swallowed and tried to find the calm that let her think rationally in such situations.

Then Zabuza seemed to tire of playing around and the amused light in his eyes disappeared as he looked at the body of his partner. Without looking at the duo he snapped his fingers in a seal.

Without any warning the wall behind the duo exploded into giant cruel hands which moved to curl around Sasuke and Sakura in a grip which would certainly prove fatal. Heavy shifting cement lunged. Sakura thought she screamed-

Joyous laughter.

Sakura cracked an eyelid open.

Scratch that.

Very amused, very pleased also very malicious laughter.

The hands were melting into sizzling goo at her feet and she stopped Sasuke from accidentally corroding his feet off.

Firudo laughed as he walked up the corridor, a sheathed tanto swinging in one hand.

"I have to say, for brats you handled yourselves well against the other one." A flicker of a smile twisted over his mouth and a wicked glint started to twinkle in his eyes. "But this one is out of your depth and since you amused me I'll deal with him."

So he wasn't a nice, paranoid civilian lawyer after all. And _something _about that wording rang warning bells in Sakura's mind. Sasuke shot her a 'told you we shouldn't have trusted him' look. She ignored it. She was never assuming anyone was a civilian after being tricked by them ever again.

"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza asked roughly, slightly wary of the stranger who had stopped his attack cold.

There was a pained snicker from behind the man. "Ah." Naruto pushed himself into a sitting position clutching the side of his ribs. "He's Zabuza Momochi of course."

The real Zabuza's face slackened slightly in incredulity. "Is he now?" He asked dryly. Shifting his sword to a more comfortable position the man rested the tip on the floor making sure the razor sharp edge pointed towards Firudo.

"And you're sure your tanto can hold up?"

Firudo used two fingers to push the hilt out and reveal a mirror bright flash of steel. With one smooth movement he pulled the sheath off leaving the blade hanging in mid-air for a split second before he was gone his other hand having snatched it out of the air.

Zabuza raised his sword in a movement too fast to follow and met Firudo's smaller blade in a ringing parry.

"Sabre." Firudo corrected before beginning a series of agile, slashes and swipes white lighting flickering down the metal giving it an eerie glow. It really was a thing to watch, the movement of the two men were graceful down to the last degree shift in posture.

Firudo could have sliced their heads off at the café and no one would have noticed the cut.

A fog swirled around the two of them, so thick that nothing but vague blurs of darker grey could be seen in the middle.

"Ah thank you." Firudo leapt out and snapped his fingers. A whitish bluish crackle jumped from his fingers then widened to a roar of energy.

Water conducted electricity Sakura remembered in horror. The fog was exactly that. Zabuza's clone arched once in a cracking, popping sound before it fell apart into a humanoid pile of earth and plaster dust.

Team 7 stared. Firudo had taken down Zabuza's clone in less than a minute and _one_ jutsu. Now they had an even tougher opponent than the ex Kiri Nin. They would have been panicking if they weren't hyped up with adrenaline and a healthy dose of confused relief.

Then it hit Sakura like an electric shock.

"You were the nin from the forest!"

Silence.

"I want to say thank you." Naruto tried cautiously, "But also fuck you because you've been screwing with our heads."

"Hmm." Firudo accepted the gratitude. "And I haven't even started trying yet." He had taken one step towards Naruto when Sasuke snarled.

"Don't touch him!"

Firudo paused and when he looked at Sasuke the boy almost shrank back with the intensity of his look.

"You helped us because it amused you." However the dark haired boy continued. "You helped Sakura because she put up a good show. How do I know you won't just get bored and injure us because it _amused _you? So stay away from him."

Firudo stepped towards Sasuke instead and the colour drained subtly from the teen's face. Still he stood his ground.

"No?" Firudo asked softly.

"No."

Firudo's eyes froze becoming the black pools of ice Sakura remembered from the forest. The abrupt change from genial to menacing was hair raising.

Sasuke let out a shocked breath, Sakura whipped her head around. Firudo stood, hand on Sasuke's head so that the boy's knees hit the floor. The man was leaning in Sasuke's face and examining the Sharingan which was still on display.

"Such gratitude." The man hissed. Cold razor blades dragged themselves across her skin but Sakura forced herself to just watch. That close to Sasuke Firudo could kill him if he thought the other two were going to interfere.

"When someone does you a kindness you get on your knees and you thank that person for your life. I have saved all of you twice over now so start begging Sasuke-kun." The name sounded like a mockery coming from him. Sasuke remained stubbornly thin lipped, eyes wary of the Nin's reaction.

Surprisingly the Nin just sighed and rolled his eyes as if he had expected that.

"I see manners is not high on your priority list."

Firudo straightened and the genjutsu he was wearing fell like water. Ink bled away from his hair leaving it pale and silvery. A skin tight mask wrapped around the lower part of his face contrasting against the tan of his skin. But the eyes remained the same; cold and piercing.

"That is a lovely pair of eyes you have there." The man patted Sasuke on the head. "I like how I can read you like an open book from them. Anger, Disbelief. Shock. You know…when you're scared…your eyes are identical to your brother's."

Sasuke's face went stark white at the implications.

"Oi." Naruto called out. "If you're just going to monologue, can you tell us what you want with us instead? There's no way you saved us from the goodness of your heart. You're a _Missing Nin_. I think."

Sakura was sure the blond had a broken rib. But now he moved as if he was perfectly fine? How was that possible? He should be a bit ginger at least and Zabuza's kicks did not look like they had been pulled back in the slightest.

"I could tell you but I have a feeling you'd disregard anything I say and come up with your own theories anyway." Firudo shrugged. "Far more entertaining to tell you a lie or three and watch you panic. But I don't mean any of you harm. Yet anyway." Whistling the Nin cocked his head to the side. "I think I hear a furious Uchiha sensei on the war path." He remarked idly.

"I have a question." Sakura spoke quietly. "You sent us to the wrong place on purpose. You've been helping us and hindering us all the way through his mission. At what point did you start?"

"Ahh little kunoichi." Firudo looked at her and smiled under his mask. "Will you blow my knee out too if I don't answer?" With a sardonic laugh he disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Ja ne brats."

The Banchou skidded around the corner a second later looking thoroughly roughed up but victorious.

"They're here Uchiha!" He roared over his shoulder. "Any of you hurt?"

Taking in the scene with the collapsed ceiling, Haku's corpse, a pile of dirt and three thoroughly shocked genin he added to his statement.

"I would ask if your sensei needs to kill anyone but it seems you've already done that." A rare note of approval winked in his voice. Obito was there in the next second, jaw dropping open.

"Kiddies-"

"Firudo is a nin." Sakura blurted out looking hat her hands.

"We need to bury him!" Naruto wailed pointing at Haku.

"I think we attracted the attraction of a very bored missing Nin." Sasuke's voice was whisper soft. "Oh he's met _him _by the way. And I have the Sharingan. Surprise?"

The Taichou poked his dishevelled head around the corner. "So this is what the massive explosion was." He remarked mildly tapping his glass frame to get rid of the cracked glass.

Obito raised one hand cutting to the crux of the matter. "Are you in any danger from any non Konoha Nin at the minute?" He asked firmly.

Sakura shook her head knowing that Naruto and Sasuke were doing the same. She didn't think Firudo was going to harm them…well he seemed more prone to letting them harm themselves then anything.

"Injuries?"

"Just me." Sasuke winced rolling his wounded shoulder. "The Yuki got me with several ice senbon. Look Obito!" His eyes flared red and his cousin grinned, a big smile lighting up his dirt streaked face.

"Great! We can sort this out back at Konoha then. Miyake, tell me you have healers…"

"Of course." The Banchou sounded almost offended.

"You're not going to ask about him?" Sakura tilted her head towards Haku. Obito didn't even seem concerned there was a dead body lying not ten feet from him. Heck there could be a piece of garbage in the same spot and he'd treat it the same way.

Obito stopped and gave her an odd look. "He was your opponent." He shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned that covers everything." She suddenly remembered Obito had grown up and matured during the most terrible war in ninja history. People did _not _retain clean hands during times like those. Whereas most guardians would panic inside (even minutely) about their wards killing, he had just shrugged and accepted it like it was always going to happen one day. It was the clearest reminder that she had stepped into a whole new world she had had since the Academy.

….#########################################################...

"More please!" Obito charmed more food out of Asari. "Taking down Momochi really works up one's appetite."

The dark haired man seemed to consciously avoid turning his body too fast and the departure from his usual fluid movements was rather jarring. Sakura felt a slight pang of satisfaction, Zabuza had lied about Obito losing two limbs and the man did seem generally fine. A characteristic not shared by the head sealed in a sealing scroll a few hand widths away on the table.

The Banchou snatched up the scroll between his thumb and forefinger. "With my share of the bounty, I can order a hit on someone pretty important right?"

Obito paused in lifting his food to his mouth. "Uhh…depends, we have to weigh up circumstances and effect. Who did you have in mind?"

"Gato." The Yakuza rolled the scroll to Obito who pocketed it. "Sound possible to you?"

Obito's smile was very cold. "Turning his own tricks against him? Oh I think we can manage that. And gladly."

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto shared one despairing look before turning back to their food, too hungry to even care. Zabuza was dead; she wasn't particularly bothered about that death but the memory of Firudo associated with the missing Nin was not one she wanted to remember. Haku had been burned in accordance to Fire Nation custom (Obito had put his foot down _very firmly _that no DNA should be left behind.) And now it was their last meal before they left for Konoha.

Now that the panic was over Sakura found herself wondering about what Team 7 was like now. Sasuke and Sakura had managed to put aside their grudge and work pretty well together the minute there had been a crisis but now that it was over?

Naruto placed his chop sticks down carefully and smacked his forehead.

"We left our toothbrushes in the bathroom." He unwound to his feet stretching. "I'm not touching your slimy toothbrush Sasuke." He told him happily, "And I'm not touching yours either Sakura-chan." With a whistle he sloped off towards the room they had shared.

Sakura was sure she had picked it up but she scrambled up anyway to check. Stomps could be clearly heard as the three genin stampeded upstairs, below Obito winced and made a note to work on their grace.

An empty bathroom stared back at Sakura. Naruto had been mistaken, it was nice to know she wasn't losing her memory this young. Turning around she almost scrambled back as Sasuke was just _there._

"We have to talk."

The locked box inside Sakura wobbled.

"I think you made yourself perfectly clear last time." She told him coolly.

"I think you both made yourselves clear _and _heard last time." Naruto muttered under his breath turning away.

To Sakura's great shock Sasuke smiled. It was a small twitch of the lips but it was there and it was genuine.

"Well I suppose you could be worse." Sasuke admitted conversationally. "Stubborn, violent and a bloody idiot at times but you won't just go away and leave us in peace will you? Don't answer that." He waved a hand at a baffled Sakura. "Thing is you're not going to go away or change to fit both of us. So all of us are going to have to change to fit each other."

It was an apology. It hit Sakura like a speed train. What kind of a bloody apology was this? Where was the 'I'm sorry, I was wrong'? From the glint in Sasuke's eye however Sakura knew not to push her luck.

Well she wasn't going to apologise for her punching him either then! Kami he was mercurial in his moods.

Sakura told him just that. Sasuke snarked back. Naruto shook his head.

Team 7 was officially born.

…..##########################################################...

Sakura stumbled out of the Hokage's Tower utterly exhausted.

"Obito-Nii?" Naruto sounded almost dead and she didn't blame him one bit. "Was that _really _necessary?"

Obito stopped them from stumbling over into the road and hummed. "Well you have a missing Nin interested in you, for such young teams the older Nin tend to look out for them in such situations. But you should be perfectly safe in the village so don't worry."

"But they should have asked Sakura the most questions." Sasuke mumbled hands over his mouth. "And they didn't."

His cousin just shrugged not knowing the answer to that as well.

Her shoulders felt like she had strapped lead weights to them with every step she took. Now that she was back in the village, she really should check up on her house and see if everything was alright. Everything needed to be fine and untouched for her to be able to return to Obito's place with a clear conscience.

"I'll check up on the house." She yawned to her team. "See you in a bit."

"Pass me your bag." Sasuke held out a hand. "We'll just dump it in your room." Gladly she handed it over and some of the weight disappeared.

"Don't run into more nin in your own house." Naruto scolded her mockingly wagging a finger in her face.

"Hai, hai." She laughed, or at least tried to. "I'll try."

Walking down the streets alone gave her time to clear her mind and actually relax for the first time since all the tension was over. Avoiding several men in construction clothes she picked up the flowerpot and retrieved the spare key. The click of the lock would echo through the house she knew, it was something she had put in herself to wake her up if someone broke in. Though Obito had gone and proved her warning useless a few weeks ago.

She froze taking one step into the hallway. There was a flowery scent which should have faded weeks ago. It was the scent her mother liked and used and she had stopped doing _it._ Heart picking up the pace Sakura tip toed into the kitchen as fast as she could.

Her jaw ached from her clenching it.

A dark haired woman sat at the dining table silently watching a train model puff by.

"You idiotic girl." Her mother turned to her with a disappointed stare. "What's this I hear about you moving in with someone? And leaving the house unprotected for so long? What if burglars had broken in and taken what your father held dear? Hmm?"

"Mother." Sakura's lips went numb from forming the word. Something curled in her chest under the layer of ribs. That was relief she was feeling right? Her mother was back. The fluttery feeling should be happiness.

Her mother sniffed and pointed at the note. "You leave the house for weeks and you don't even have the decency to write a note yourself. Your sensei had to do it for you, and let me tell you exactly what I think of that."

**Sooo what did you think? Leave a review?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This arc got written! And wow it snowballed into something far bigger than I was expecting. Right no more Sakura pov now, enjoy Sasuke's. I'll update every week or sooner depending on the feedback, thanks for reading****.**

Sasuke curled up on the sofa like a great cat, mindful of all the junk accumulated down the sides and cracks of the padding. CD's dug into his thigh, bottles and cans littered the space between him and the sofa back (never alcohol because Obito had standards.), draped clothes gave his head a nice cushion to rest on. It was disgusting. It was home.

He was never sure how a trained Jonin like Obito could stand being such a slob. Naruto was a lost case and he had given up trying to be neat the thirty second time he had arranged his stuff neatly then two whirlwinds (chiefly named Obito and Naruto) had come and absolutely destroyed it. Yes he had kept count.

Sakura bless her had tried. He snorted, the effort of her hard work was just that the mountains of junk had become stacked piles of junk instead. Feeling apathetic he kicked a pile of magazines off a chair with his foot and wondered if she'd yell at him for being a slob. Was he a slob? It wasn't that he liked the mess, he just liked the thought of something happening. The mission was over and he was _bored. _Truth be told he had been bored from the second Firudo had disappeared.

Why couldn't dangerous, exciting Nin stick around longer? He kicked back and gazed up at the ceiling eyes glazed. Nothing even remotely appealed to him. Everything was dull, dull, _dull._

He wanted to be constructive. At the same time the couch was so comfortable. And he was _bored. _But there was nothing exciting to do.

"Sakura's taking a long time." Naruto flounced into the room holding two drinks. He offered Sasuke one and vaguely interested Sasuke accepted one. It was bright red and pastel coloured, probably a mocking toast to his Sharingan. A faint grin spread across Sasuke's mouth as he tipped it back. Nice to know he could count on Naruto.

Yes the pinkette was taking a long time. Unfortunately the problem was easily explained and easily not worth the time thinking about. He may have accepted her (at last) as one of them but that didn't mean he would fawn over her every movement. There were consequences to being one of them and not someone he had to protect at all costs. He had faith in her to survive in her own village at least. Telling Naruto all of this was too much effort and he just grunted letting Naruto interpret that as he liked.

"Don't just grunt at me." Naruto scolded prodding Sasuke's stomach with his heel as he leapt on the back of the sofa, feet on the dark haired boy's stomach. The liquid in his glass swayed alarmingly close to the edge of the glass and Sasuke eyed it half interested what Naruto's reaction would be if it fell. Maybe taking a shower would be worth the entertainment.

"So that was Hatake Kakashi." Sasuke stared up at the ever rotating blades on the fan.

Naruto hummed in contemplation. "Was it really though? Think about it…what are the chances of bumping into Obito-Nii's team mate the first time we set out of Konoha?"

"What you're saying that was another trick?" Sasuke twisted his head to stare at the blond.

"Well he might be." Naruto shrugged. "But seeing as he was Zabuza Momochi first, then Firudo, then Hatake Kakashi excuse me for doubting that was his real name and identity."

Obito's reaction on hearing the Nin had looked like Kakashi had been merely to close his eyes and rock back on his heels. It was clear he didn't think it was the man or he would have been out of the village before any of them could blink.

"But." Naruto continued voice quiet. "We saw him for a longer time when he was still adopting his Momochi disguise. And tell me if he couldn't have passed for one of your relatives if he had wanted to."

Sasuke was quiet. He did not want to think down that route.

"Firudo." He held his drink out.

"Firudo." Naruto agreed to cut that dangerous train of thought off. Their glasses clinked.

A fickle sort of energy was rushing through his limbs now and Sasuke sighed recognising it. If he didn't do something fast to quell his boredom and spend his energy he would be spending his time doing inane things which would turn out to be counterproductive to rationality. Was getting drunk too much of a bother? He could always plead the case that he had killed the boy and needed to forget. Then he dismissed it Obito knew him too well, he'd never buy it.

So when the door blasted open with a scream of "YOOOUTH!" Sasuke merely sipped at his drink and welcomed the change. There was only one Jonin who could reach that decibel anyway and really Naruto should be used to it by now. Naruto swore as he picked himself off the floor.

"Did Obito signal him or something?" Naruto hissed. "He never came over _once _when we were in the dangerous stage and now bam."

Hearing the door being replaced far sooner than it should have been Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Not just him." He sat up sharply, a cat like curiosity urging him forward. "He's brought guests. Polite ones too."

Naruto scoffed as if the concept was foreign. Sasuke couldn't exactly blame him, most people usually left behind politeness in favour of eccentricity a long time ago in the ninja field.

Gai appeared in the doorway in his usual green spandex and sparkling teeth. That was usual. What was more unusual and interesting was that a mini Gai clone peeked his head around the Jonin. A brown haired girl with her hair in buns wrinkled her nose at the mess and while he didn't show it Sasuke knew the Hyuuga was having a similar reaction.

Ah, so this was Team 9.

He was well aware of how he looked; lounging on a dirty sofa in a dirty room with a red drink in his hands with his bored apathetic eyes gleaming in his face. Well, he wasn't impressed with their first impressions either. He had no reason to even try to be friends with them (friends, pah.) and so he wasn't even going to try.

Naruto's face twisted into a mask of light distaste picking up on the disgust and condescension from the other genin. Say what you could but Naruto _was _perceptive to feelings.

Maybe the condescension would vanish if they were to see red eyes glinting at them instead of black. Maybe one of them would scream? That would certainly make his afternoon.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto-kun!" Gai boomed pulling a chair from the mess of papers, cartons and wrappers. "I heard you were back. I thought it was time your youthful team and mine met."

"Ah that's nice of you." Naruto answered seeing as Sasuke wasn't going to. "Considering one of our team hasn't even met _you _yet."

"I thought Tenten could take the third member of your team under her wing." Gai's smile widened. The girl looked simultaneously proud to be given such a responsibility and resigned at mentoring at what she thought was a weak junior. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Was she looking down on them?

"Let me guess." Sasuke swung his feet off the couch. "Your marvellous team just happens to match up perfectly to mentor one of us." He smiled and the mini-Gai's smile dimmed slightly. "What a lovely coincidence."

Obito chose that moment to wander out of the shower throwing on a damp T-shirt. Sasuke saw their faces and laughed mentally at the thought plastered across them. His cousin shot Gai a roguish smile and clasped his wrist in greeting.

"Well I was expecting you." Obito grinned. "Take a seat if you can find one kids. This is Naruto and Sasuke. I'm Obito, Sakura's not here at the minute but she should be back before nightfall."

"I'm Lee!" Mini Gai bounded up to Obito who cheerfully shook his hand as well. "Nice to meet you!"

Dear Kami Gai had managed to find a kid exactly like him. How on earth had he resisted the urge to show him off for a year until Sasuke and Naruto had graduated?

"Tenten." The girl introduced herself. "Hyuuga Neji." The pale eyed Hyuuga inclined his head.

Two of the greatest Dojutsu in one room made for an alarming amount of power once one stopped to think about it.

"Kids." Obito smiled at Naruto and Sasuke. "Meet your senpais. Gai-"

Their abused door flung open once again as Sakura burst in.

"Sakura. Perfect Timing." Obito beckoned. "Cm'here. This is Gai! And his team!"

"Hi." Sakura waved looked very distracted before her gaze snapped back to Obito. "I'm sorry but I need to collect my stuff."

Obito's smile froze. "Eh?"

Sakura waved a hand idly over her shoulder. "My mum's back you see."

Very, very slowly Naruto lifted one hand to cover his eyes in a despairing gesture. Sasuke toasted Sakura's mom in an ironic fit for daring to go against his cousin in a battle of wills. He quirked an eyebrow at Naruto.

_You did warn her right?_

The blond haired boy nodded anticipating the question, eyes still shut in a curious mixture of morbid curiosity and doom.

"I see." Sasuke could see the brittle nature of Obito's smile. "Well how about you enjoy your time with your mom and we drop it off tomorrow? It'll take a while to find you see."

Lie. He knew exactly where everything in the house was. It was the only way to keep such a messy house efficient.

"She wants you over for dinner." Sakura pointed out delicately. Apparently she too had figured out Obito wasn't in the best of moods after hearing that. "As she's never met you and as a thank you for taking me in for the past few weeks."

Obito's smile turned fond. "Sakura, I don't need a thank you for being a decent human being." He chided her ruffling her hair. "But yes I will accept. Boys no need for that awful burned mess you call dinner tonight."

"Ahh! How youthful it is to reunite family." Gai grinned at Sakura holding up his thumb.

Oh joy he had mistaken the situation. Sasuke saw Obito's eyes slightly sharpen and there was a light of understanding the other Jonin's eyes. Naruto nudged him. Sasuke turned to look. There was a look in Naruto's eyes which could turn ugly if given the right fuel, curious to see what had earned his enmity Sasuke caught sight of the mini Gai. His lip curled back almost immediately.

He could swear there were metaphorical hearts swimming in the mini Gai's eyes. If he did _not _stay strictly professional at all times Naruto and he would be more than happy to gut him. He knew for a fact Naruto would take extremely poorly to anyone trying to disturb his world. Well considering that Sakura had never even blushed/swooned/stuttered in his presence mini Gai did not have much of a chance. Still precautions. What was the thing about crushes anyway? Sakura could have been a psychotic killer for all mini Gai knew.

"If we're intruding we'll leave." Neji offered sounding like he would prefer that to be the case.

He shot straight to Sasuke's favourite team 9 member spot.

Neji gave Sasuke a tight extension of the lips which by any means could not be called a smile. Sasuke sent him a tight look. Good, they understood each other.

"Team 9 right?" Sakura snapped her fingers at Tenten. "Right I've seen you around." She shot a suspicious look at Obito, "I'm guessing you're here because Obito wanted us to meet another team. You're invited too? If you want to come…?" She trailed off sounding more and more uncertain.

"It sounds very youthful Gai sensei!" Lee blurted out, turning to Gai with a pleading look.

Neji sighed and nodded his assent. "That does give us a chance to hear about your mission." He murmured.

They came to hear about the mission? That made sense, Sasuke remembered Gai coming over all the time when there were haggard circles under Obito's eyes from missions. They probably wanted to encourage that kind of relationship between their genin.

"Ah sensei." Sakura spoke. Obito glanced at her and she smiled pleasantly. "Please use the door this time."

Naruto snorted into his hand and stifled it hurriedly. Obito laughed sheepishly and rumpled his hair, and when he opened his eyes again Sasuke recognised the calculating gleam hidden deep in those dark eyes.

Poor Sakura's mother. Sasuke took a sip of his drink. She had elected to go up against Obito in custody of Sakura and he was sure his cousin would not forgive or tolerate the way the woman treated her daughter. This would actually be entertaining, he felt some interest spark inside him beside the just fury that one of his team mates _was _treated like that.

Tenten tried to do her senpai duty by taking a step forward and opening her mouth.

Sakura stepped around her, spoke in a rapid whirl wind fashion to Naruto about the details and was out of the door just as quickly.

Tenten closed her mouth looking dejected.

Sasuke hid a smirk behind his glass. Sakura really didn't follow the idea other people had of her. He had learnt that the hard way and so it seemed had Tenten.

"So you've been a genin how long?" Lee tried to approach Naruto in the vain hope of conversation. The blond boy sent him a cool look and told him to subtract a year from how long Lee had been a genin.

That left Neji to be his mentor. The Hyuuga sent him an irritated look finding as many flaws with that plan as Sasuke did. Gai sent him a _look._ Neji's jaw bunched together and stiffly turned to look at Sasuke.

To Sasuke's mystified amusement the Hyuuga started reciting the ritual words for greeting family members who had strayed from the main family path. He could just spy Obito clamping a hand over his mouth and going red in an effort not to burst out laughing holding on to Gai. Gai seemed to slouch in despair at his marvellous plan failing at the first stage.

…############################################################...

Sakura opened the door just as Obito knocked once. His cousin's jaw tightened at the obvious sign that she had been waiting for them to arrive instead of spending time with her mother. Despite that he smiled and handed over a plant Naruto had scrounged up from somewhere.

"Mr Ukki." Naruto whispered to Sakura who nodded with a grave solemnity and ushered all the males of Team 7 and all of Team 9 in. Neji, being brought up in a traditional clan, handed over a small decoration as a token of gratitude.

"You have a really pretty house Sakura-chan." Lee beamed taking in all the surroundings. It was strange seeing everyone out of traditional shinobi attire for example Lee and Neji were in green and dark blue formal wear, Tenten wore an informal dark red kimono and their sensei had opted for throwing a blue haori over his green outfit with his Jonin jacket nowhere in sight.

In contrast Sasuke and Naruto were in shorts, a T-shirt and Obito was in dark slacks and a baggy shirt.

Sakura's hair was done up and there as a light touch of makeup on her face. A light pink dress wrapped around her frame and she sent her team a victorious grin. Naruto grinned back not feeling uncomfortable in the slightest. It was clear she was more comfortable with casual clothes than being dolled up.

A dark haired woman in a form fitting purple dress appeared in the doorway and Sasuke got his first glimpse of Sakura's mother. She was a proud woman from the arch of her neck and spine and there was a hard glint in her eyes as she took in the mismatch of fashion between her guests but none the less she smiled and invited them in.

"I really am grateful to you for taking in my daughter." Sakura's mother told Obito warmly.

His cousin smiled back without any bite to his smile. "I couldn't leave one of my charges to live alone. How reckless of an adult would I be?"

The woman's smile didn't falter for a millisecond. "Indeed. And you are?" She looked at the obvious strangers.

"Maito Gai." Gai shook her hand sounding serious for once. "This is my team; Lee, Tenten and Neji."

"Sakura has never mentioned you." The woman kept smiling and she ushered them into the decorated dining room. "I look forward to getting to know all of you."

Looking at Obito's face it was hard to imagine him as a deadly Jonin. "Seeing as we met your daughter weeks ago, I look forward to this dinner as well. I am curious about the woman who raised such a fine daughter."

Naruto turned his face away to hide a snicker. Team 9 had absolutely no idea of the background and the subtleties of the interaction sailed right over their heads but Gai's eyes were slowly but surely getting harder and harder as Obito and Sakura's mother laughed and exchanged veiled barbs.

"Sasuke." Sakura sounded _furious. _"_Stop him._" Her green blazed out of her face as she stared at her mother.

Sasuke's mouth twitched into a mild frown. Of course living with them for a few weeks would not override Sakura's loyalty to her mother or her love. This could be problematic.

"Stop what?" He asked her mildly. "Is there something wrong Sakura?"

For half a second he saw the same rage flicker in her face that had flowed out of her when she had punched him.

"That." She breathed. "Is my mother. And I control the serving of the food. _Stop him Sasuke._"

Sasuke weighed up the severity of both threats in his mind. On one hand getting between Obito and his prey was an incredibly bad idea but the idea of a pissed off Sakura having access to his food was hair raising in a way he did not like.

Naruto came to his rescue.

"Is that your father Sakura?" He asked loudly and bluntly playing up his goofball persona, pointing at a picture. Everyone stopped their individual conversations to stare at him.

"Yes." Sakura told him a pleasant mask slipping over her face.

"My poor husband was killed when a building fell on him." Sakura's mother elaborated a rare note of sorrow in her tone.

"A building?" Lee blinked at her. It sounded ludicrous.

"Oh yes." There was something nasty in the curve of the woman's smile. "Two nin were fighting. All I got back was one of those black cards and a time of death."

Sakura's smile was brittle. Naruto actually winced and looked regretful.

Tenten _tried _to speak to Sakura.

"It's a wonder you weren't put off our profession." The older girl tried to make a joke to lighten the mood.

What had Sakura said what seemed like so long ago? She didn't want to be the second class citizen in a military village? It didn't seem like the Haruno family had received any compensation or remorse for their patriarch's death; it was no wonder their team mate wanted to climb out of the faceless pit ninja didn't think twice about killing accidentally.

"Anyway." Sakura's mother clapped her hands and rested one on her hip. "My name is Haruno Aisa and the food is getting cold. Sakura!"

The pink haired girl slipped into the room first, miraculously clear of all train tracks and books, and started to point out places of seating. Sasuke sure she had tweaked the seating on purpose as to put Neji on his left but luckily Sakura wasn't cruel enough to break Naruto and him apart. Sakura sat on her mother's right on Naruto's other side and had manoeuvred the adults so that Gai on her mother's other side, then Obito, then the rest of Team 9 so they all formed a circle.

It was a seating designed to antagonise Sasuke and keep Obito away from her mother. Naruto shot him a look, it practically screamed '_are you an idiot for pissing her off in her own house?'_ He grunted back. Both Jonin sent Sakura flat looks recognising the ploy straight away but accepted their seats without protest.

"So what do you do?" Gai asked Aisa politely as all the genin started their own conversation.

The severe woman hummed. "I am a consultant for numerous businesses, I advise them on what plan of action to take and what to cut away from the organisation. You?"

Gai motioned to him and Obito whose smile suddenly seemed much sharper.

"We're elite Jonin directly under the Hokage's payroll."

Obito stretched out a long, strong arm to pluck a salt shaker off the side off the table.

"Such interesting work like you wouldn't believe." His cousin purred. "I also mentor the police division from time to time." He smirked. "Arresting criminals is…such a strange job. They pop up everywhere, from work time to when you go shopping."

That was purely for show Sasuke knew, his cousin stuck rigorously to a low salt diet (keeping blood pressure low was hard enough what with three genin and insane missions).

"You were on the original police division right?" Aisa spoke, "Seeing as you're an Uchiha. Why did you not head the new division after the reform?"

"Yes." Obito allowed. "I have experience picking out criminals and the skill to shut them down but the skillset for a police officer is different to that of a ninja and I trained minimally for the family trade."

"Let me put it this way." Gai interrupted. "Ninja kill their victims. Police lock them away."

The clink of Sakura's serving ladle hitting Obito's bowl was loud and Sasuke spied the ferocious glare directed at both Jonin.

"More soup sensei?" Sakura asked sweetly, ladle full of incredibly hot soup. It was also _very _close to the edge of the bowl so that one 'accidental' slip would send all that hot liquid on Obito himself instead of the bowl.

"For Kami's sake Sakura." Aisa snapped. "Don't be so silly, the ladle is far too close to the man."

"It's fine Sakura." Obito spoke hastily moving his bowl so that his person was no longer in danger. "I think I've had enough of soup."

"If you change your mind." Sakura told him sounding concerned, "I will be right over there." She pointed to her seat and smiled beatifically. "My job to keep any eye on everyone after all."

"What a concerned host." Lee whispered down the table, Sasuke's lip curled at that. Idiots…but this did have the potential to be very entertaining.

"Lee." Neji snapped. "Shut up."

Neji sent Sasuke a sharp look and with a stab of dislike Sasuke remembered the Byakugan wielders were experts in reading body language and reading what actually hadn't been said.

"So can we actually talk about what we came to talk about?" The Hyuuga asked bluntly cutting through every single conversation with the subtlety of a knife.

Naruto took up that cue like a bloodhound on a scent.

"Yes! The mission!" He slammed a hand on the table and this time the bowls really did rattle and move causing Sakura's ladle to miss her mother's bowl. A look of horror crossed her face before Gai's arm abruptly shot out and caught the falling soup in Aisa's own bowl.

Aisa let out the breath she had been holding and sent Sakura a scathing look before motioning for her to sit down.

"Thanks." Sakura hissed to Gai who just beamed and slipped into her seat.

"Sorry." Naruto whispered guiltily but Sakura just waved it off.

"Yes." Neji drawled sounding done with all the underhanded drama. "The mission. The lifeblood of this and all villages. The mission you completed over the last few days. That mission."

"How many synonyms do you have for disaster?" Sasuke asked dryly inspecting his soup to make sure Sakura hadn't poisoned it.

"The C rank curse struck again?" Tenten asked mouth twitching. "Our first one was a genuine disaster too."

"I doubt yours consisted of running into three Zabuza Momochis." Sakura muttered causing Team 9 to splutter on their mouthfuls.

"Three!" Lee choked.

"Well one Zabuza Momochi and one clone." Sakura clarified. "And another Nin who seemed to take too much pleasure in pretending to be other people...including Momochi."

"Well you survived that obviously." Neji spoke not sounding that concerned at all.

Tenten shot him a baleful look.

"What?" Neji protested. "If they were dead I'd be a lot more concerned."

Obito stopped Gai from diluting his soup with his tears.

"So it is a common thing for Jonin to be unused to keep the mission to the rank the first time it increases?" Aisa asked pleasantly.

For the first time Obito's pleasant mask shook, a dark look painting his face as he remembered how close his team had come to being killed.

"Mother." Sakura moaned letting her head droop slightly.

Sasuke sighed into his glass of water. This was going to be a disaster.

….########################################################################...

He really hadn't been wrong. Two smiling (scheming and pissed) Jonin, six fed up genin and one very intense civilian woman made for a disastrous dinner.

"Thank you for dinner." Sasuke said in his blandest tone because he was a good team mate and didn't trust Sakura and Obito to be in the same breathing space right now. Naruto was absolutely out of the question for diplomatic affairs.

He was having so much fun that if any of the rest found out how much they _would _kill him. He had just stayed quiet throughout most of the meal enjoying the sarcastic and veiled caustic comments with Sakura's attempts to keep them all in order. Highlights included cutting Neji's chopsticks in two when he had failed to move them away fast enough from a lightning fast serve of vegetables; elbowing Obito when he was taking a sip so that the man choked on a particularly sarcastic come back; replacing the mild spice in Naruto's food with a much spicier one so that the boy was far more preoccupied with gasping and flailing than talking and much more. He had been very impressed by the fact that no one had actually died or got in a fight by the end of dinner.

Aisa's smile was sculpted out of marble. "It has been a pleasure Sasuke-kun. Feel free to come back any time." The challenge in the woman's eyes flared up like green fire and Sasuke was suddenly very aware she had the exact same eyes as her daughter.

The sudden shift of attention to him had goose bumps breaking out over his spine.

"And you Naruto-kun." Aisa turned her attention to the blond who hid a gulp. "I trust you have recovered from your spicy episode?"

"Yes!" Naruto got out a bit louder than normal. "All perfectly fine Haruno-san."

"Good." There was a wealth of undecipherable information in that syllable. "Maito-san."

Gai sent her a look and a smile. "Yes Haruno-san?"

"Take care of yourself and your team." The Haruno matriarch nodded to each and every one of Team 9. "I have heard about your destructive training as much as the next civilian. Make sure no other families get those awful cards hmm?"

"Gai sensei is very careful!" Lee protested before his sensei could even open his flabbergasted mouth.

"I know child." Aisa's hard mouth curved into a smile. "You are alive."

Lee shut up not knowing what to say.

"Haruno-san." Neji spoke up voice cool. "I'm afraid the practise of the black cards will never stop as long as shinobi are in charge."

Aisa tilted her head. "Accidents."

The Hyuuga's tone was as bitter as the concoctions Obito had made Sasuke drink when he was younger. "Accidents." He inclined his head. "It has been a pleasure but I must be going."

"So must we." Obito spoke up. "Thank you for dinner."

"Shall I get my things tomorrow then?" Sakura poked her head out from behind her mother.

Obito winced. "Well the thing is…"

Naruto took over. "Remember we told you we had lots of pressure riding on us?"

Sakura nodded slowly wariness leaking into her features.

"Tomorrow the nosy Jonin get to look at the dream team who nearly messed up their first mission." Sasuke offered the pink haired girl a tight smile. "We've had this day to relax, from now it gets much harder."

"I very much doubt our day will finish before three in the night tomorrow." Obito sighed running a hand through his hair.

"Do not worry! My youthful friend." Gai boomed. "You and your team are strong enough to weather this."

"Sensei-san." Aisa's eyes and words were like a knife. "Look after my daughter."

His dark eyed cousin blinked at her as if asking why he would choose another option.

….################################################################...

Obito felt the slow flickering flames of anger in his stomach die down as they crashed into their respective beds.

Haruno Aisa had done something to his note. She shouldn't have been able to see her daughter let alone throw them a dinner if she had even _touched _that note. All the way through dinner the fact she had won their little preliminary round ignited Obito's very long fuse. It was a direct taunt to him that his plan had failed and that _she _had caused it to fail.

He didn't feel like he was a proper Uchiha until his emotions got lit under a flame. Hate, love, greed his family had the curse of feeling too intensely.

"_We love too fiercely."_

Itachi had told him that once. It was the cause of their clan's downfall, they loved too fiercely and when what they loved was taken away the Uchihas became cold and hard. Obito was a pure blood Uchiha through and through, it was the one thing they had not been able to mock him about in the time he had struggled to get respect and lost consistently to any competent genin. Inside him was the same core of steel and rage that fed and corrupted all the adults in his clan; the same blood that ran in Uchiha Madara's blood himself flowed through Obito's and he remembered tracing his veins when he was younger just to marvel.

Obito reached out and slammed a pillow over his face.

He was different. _He _had remained loyal. In return he lived when nearly every single member of his family had been cut down. These days the Uchiha blood was more of a reminder of treachery than comfort.

His lips twisted bitterly as his mind took him back to the mass funeral the village had held to honour the Uchiha.

Sasuke had cried bitterly clutching to the only family member he had left. Naruto had not been allowed to come, and Obito was too stunned, too angry inside to offer the comfort to a grieving eight year old. Before, when the Fourth had died he had been a mess of turmoil, grief and red hot rage at the monster that had taken both his sensei and wife away from him. The entire Uchiha clan had supported him in that one political move Obito had made deep in his helpless rage.

Obito had reached out and ripped Naruto away from the orphanage, the ANBU and the orphan life he would have been destined to lead and instead raised him like a little brother. It had taken years for Obito to come to deal with his grief, to _protect _the only remaining legacy of his sensei, so that when the Uchiha were murdered Obito had _felt _something further crack and turn hard inside him. They had been his family for all they were traitors.

The absolute fear he had felt when running through the compound for even a single survivor was nothing to do with the death Itachi had dealt. It was the fear that Obito himself would have to execute the survivor and the fear that _Naruto _had been in the compound that night. Itachi had given him no warning and now his little brother was dragged up in the Uchiha clan's mess.

He had found Naruto absolutely spotless trying to reattach Obito's parent's spines. His heart had broken at the utter confusion on that young face and further when he had to leave Naruto again in his locked bedroom to go drive off Itachi as part of the plan. Combat was no place for an eight year old.

Would Sasuke ever forgive him if he found out Obito had not once protested his clan's murder?

Instead all four survivors of the Uchiha massacre had broken from the inside out and grown very good at hiding it.

Loosing a few chuckles into the cotton covering his nose and mouth Obito concluded he was making it a very dark hobby to break up families.

….#######################################################...

Next morning Sasuke found Sakura already at the breakfast table holding Obito's old team photo. Sparing her a glance he dropped into a seat and helped himself too food.

"Mooching food off two households now?"

She just turned the picture around and tapped the figure of Kakashi. "Was it him then?" She asked flatly.

He shrugged and she seemed to interpret that as 'all our theories contradict each other' because her lips pursed and with a sigh replaced the picture.

"Why?" Sasuke eventually asked because it was clear she wasn't elaborating.

"Because we don't know why he was there." Sakura replied drawing patterns on the table with her finger. "He wasn't working for Gato, he just seemed to be…"

"Independent." Sasuke finished.

Sakura laced her fingers under her chin and nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you think we'll meet him again?" She asked.

"Oh yes." There was absolute certainty in Sasuke's voice. "Probably not as Firudo though."

The sound of Sakura's head hitting off the table was loud in the silent kitchen as Sasuke sipped at his coffee.

He narrowed his eyes at the far wall when Sakura wasn't looking.

"_And I haven't even started trying yet."_

Was he the only one who had read that as a challenge by the Missing Nin?

**Leave a review on what you thought?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Now Team 7 have had their little breather chapter; time to turn the heat up! Enjoy guys****.**

The first person found them five minutes after Team 7 took a single step out of Obito's apartment.

Kurenai's hair was as dark as ever and after having seen his own Sharingan in the mirror Sasuke could appreciate the similarities in the shape and colour of her own dark red eyes.

"Kurenai!" Obito cried, discreetly cutting in front of his genin.

"So the mysterious Rookie team comes out to play at last." Kurenai's strides were long and they ate up the ground as she moved up to Obito. "What an unexpected _pleasure._"

"It certainly is a pleasure to see you again." Obito raised an eyebrow cheerfully. "I thought the Lord Hokage had given you a team too? Maybe we could get them together?"

The sweep of hair nearly hid the very satisfied smile curving the woman's lips.

Nearly.

"Thankfully I persuaded Hokage-sama that my duty as squad captain was more profitable to the village than teaching." Kurenai murmured, "Especially ones who have no talent in my field whatsoever."

"You failed the Ino-Shika-Cho heirs?" There was muted respect in Obito's tone. And of Sasuke listened closely there was amused contempt as well. "You do not know what you are getting into."

"Genma ran into some interesting genin the other week." Kurenai sighed. "For some idiotic reason or another he decided to badger Asuma to take them on instead."

"You lost your vice to three pre-teen brats?" Humour laced the words like snake venom.

"I'm sure you three know all about loss." Kurenai spoke quietly and casually stepping past him. "But I didn't come here to chat."

Sasuke forced himself not to react. That was exactly what she wanted, a reaction to gauge her words and hone them even further so that they became a knife.

"Then why?" Naruto asked hackles ready to go up in a split second.

"To apologise." And for the first time she frowned, her devastatingly pretty face twisting into something far more real.

Team 7 cocked their head to the side all frowning in confusion.

"Kurenai." Obito asked, far too calmly. "Would this have anything to do with the five people I sense closing in on us?"

Sasuke's head jerked up. He couldn't sense anything! (But the trace gleam of red in his cousin's eyes gave him his answer) The only reason Kurenai would apologise and surround them with other Nin was if she planned to betray them? But there was nothing to betray…she was a loyal Leaf Nin through and through and they didn't trust her at all. There was _nothing _she could hold on to or even betray.

"Yes." Kurenai turned to face Obito as five military Police melted from the forest and surrounded Obito. A scroll dangled from Kurenai's slender hands and the next words from her hand stunned them all to the core.

"Jonin Uchiha Obito you are under arrest placing your team at incredible risk, nearly losing Konoha two bloodline limits and conspiring with ex Konoha Nin Hatake Kakashi under order of the Hokage." She nodded at the police. "Take him."

"_What._" Obito's voice was terrifyingly flat as his wrists were bound behind his back.

"Imagine." Kurenai spoke sadistically. "_Two _members of the Yondaime's team becoming traitors. These are dark times indeed for Konoha. Jonin Nohara is under custody due to your actions are you pleased Obito-kun?"

There had to be some mistake…Obito could not be a traitor…Sasuke's brain refused to understand the scene happening before him. She was referring to the C rank right? What incredible risk? They hadn't even come close to being kidnapped, _what _was Kurenai on about? Conspiring with Kakashi was ridiculous, he couldn't even remember the number of times Obito had declared he would bring his team mate home, if Obito had talked to Kakashi then either one of them would be dead or both would be in Konoha.

His anger kicked into life as he recognised the people arresting Obito as people _Obito had trained personally._ And Rin was in custody too? What was going to happen to them?

"You're making a mistake!" Naruto snarled as he stepped forward, face creasing into something feral. "Give Obito-Nii back!"

"We don't make mistakes kid." Kurenai told him softly eyes hard and glittering pushing him back in line with the end of the scroll.

"Kurenai." Obito asked seriously. "Do you really believe that?"

Sakura covered her mouth looking horrified even as two police separated the three kicking and struggling genin from their dignified sensei.

"And if _you _harm one hair on my kid's heads I will _end _you." His cousin suddenly snarled at the two Nin about to use more force than necessary to separate Sakura and Naruto. His eyes span blood and he looked genuinely frightening in the light.

Sasuke bit down on the arm holding him firmly in place away from his team mates and cousin. They couldn't do this!

"He's been taking care of us for years!" He yelled. "It makes no sense for him to try whatever you said!"

There was desperation rising in his chest now. Why weren't they listening?! They were screaming reasons Obito was innocent and they _weren't listening._

Kurenai was silent for a long while.

"Take him away." She ordered in the end turning her back to a furious, screaming Team 7.

"Kids." There was a smile in Obito's voice and all three stilled. "Keep yourselves safe. I will come back, don't forget it!"

"Don't you dare leave us!" Sasuke screamed. He had lost one brother to madness, he did not want to lose a cousin to the legal system! Then in a move that had his captor blinking in surprise, Sasuke slipped out of his hold and went straight for Obito.

There was a small sad smile on his cousin's face that hinted that his heart was breaking.

"Obito-Nii!" Naruto wailed from behind him.

Someone caught Sasuke's arm in an iron grip. Sasuke spun around snarling immediately eyes bleeding scarlet memorising the face of the man stopping him from helping his last blood kin.

"We've wasted enough time." Kurenai snapped striding over to where Obito stood. "Come on! Leave the kids. If you are a traitor, you'll be lucky they don't have the Sharingan and the knowledge of how to use it ripped out of your head."

"That won't happen." Obito replied firmly. "I am innocent."

All of the adults disappeared in a shunshin causing Naruto and Sakura to fall to the ground with two thumps. Sasuke stumbled forward at the sudden loss of force.

He…was gone.

They had taken him.

"We have to get him back." Sasuke spun to face his stunned silent team mates. "Before we're given to another sensei, in this time we _have _to get him back!"

"I don't disagree Teme." Naruto sounded exhausted. "But how? Rin's in custody too remember?" He pushed himself to his feet looking drained.

Sakura's hands were shaking. "I reject that theory about why Kakashi was in Tanzaki Gai in the first place. Umm…if we can prove Obito wasn't in cahoots with Firudo or Kakashi or whoever, that should do it right? That's pretty much the main charge."

"No one is going to believe the word of a Missing Nin." Sasuke snapped striding to and fro the training round.

"I hate to say this but we need allies." Naruto ran hands through his hair. "Obito's friends who aren't going to believe whatever bull crap Kurenai spews."

"_Gai._"

….###############################################################...

It was a reasonable guess that Obito's house would be monitored, Sasuke and Naruto had no wish to be taken to other people's custody and this few hours was the perfect time to arrange something. Nin generally left other people's team alone due to obscure laws but by the time they figured out what they could and couldn't do, they would have sorted something out.

"You can stay at mine." Sakura offered as they skidded to a halt outside the noisiest training ground.  
"Too obvious." Naruto and Sasuke muttered in unison.

"Gai!" Naruto roared hands cupping his mouth.

One source of crashing stopped.

"Naruto-kun!" Gai became visible as part of the dust cloud cleared. "How can I help you on this glorious day?"

"Greetings Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled also out of the dust cloud. "And Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan!"

"Oh we have visitors?" Tenten dropped from a tree, senbon in her mouth making her words difficult to understand. Neji narrowed his eyes at them and nodded coolly.

"Obito was arrested." Naruto declared immediately. "You can help right?!"

"Arrested?" Tenten looked at him like he had grown two heads. "What for? Being too hot for the Fire Country?"

Sasuke ground his teeth. Now was not the time to get angry over fan girl remarks.

"He's been accused of conspiring with Hatake Kakashi."

"Who?" Came from Lee.

"Firudo." Breathed Neji. "What evidence do they have?"

"We don't know." Sakura shrugged in a loose helpless motion.

Gai's bright smile faded into something _far _more deadly.

"I will fight for him." He promised. "Obito has very good friends, they will not abandon him but this is extremely worrying news. If Hatake Kakashi is back in business…"

"Can we deal with that _after _we get Obito back?" Naruto flapped his hands looking almost panicked.

"Calm yourselves." Gai rumbled. "And fight for your sensei."

He was right. They couldn't help Obito if they were all panicked and full of anger like this. Sasuke exhaled forcing his mind back into familiar icy rivulets.

"Neji." He spoke suddenly. "Can we hide in your compound?"

Neji hid the fact he was surprised quite well. "I suppose."

"Gai, what's the range of the Shunshin?" He asked again losing interest in Neji after he had answered in the positive.

"A quarter of a mile at most." Gai answered. "The holding cells are in that range."

"Not interested in that." Sasuke spoke dismissively. "Firudo shunshinned out, there is still a minute chance that he followed us back."

"What." Naruto asked flatly.

"He issued us a challenge Naruto!" Sasuke snarled. "He hasn't _started _in trying to mess with us yet." He was breathing heavily Sasuke noted detachedly. "What does that tell you?"

"Shit." Sakura grasped the situation almost instantly. "There's something coming."

"He's smart." Sasuke paced. "He was in Tanzaki Gai for a reason but then decided to mess with us!? But he approached Sakura first when she hadn't even done anything to get his attention. Why Tanzaki Gai?"

"Konoha Jonin often take unblooded genin there for their first mission." Tenten whispered a tension falling over the group.

"He was waiting." Naruto breathed. "He wanted a Konoha team."

"There's something _in _Konoha Firudo wants!" Sasuke finished pacing up and down feeling exhilarated for a brief flash. "And I bet you anything something is going to happen in the next few days, Gai…can we search the woods?"

"Wait, wait, wait." Naruto held up his hands. "Could he be responsible for this? Tricking Konoha into thinking he had contact with Obito so he would be taken out of the way?"

Dread and fierce anticipation built up in Sasuke's throat. "He's after us next then."

"The village is secure against Hatake." Gai shook his head. "As long as you remain in the village you will be protected. Because despite everything, we are comrades against everyone else. Even a rival will drop everything to help his rival against outside threats."

"No." Sakura was pale. "That's good. We _want _him to come after us."

"What." Lee forgot to add his usual enthusiasm as he stared at her. "You want a man you can't predict or even counter slightly to come after you."

"If we can get him to admit what he did." Sakura trailed off meaningfully.

"Won't work." Gai shook his head. "I hate to say this youthful blossom but Kakashi is _far _too good to be fooled by you."

"That's right." Naruto's head spun to look at Gai. "You knew him too. What's he like?"

Something flickered in the depths of Gai's face before it was gone replaced by a beaming smile.

"His Springtime is frozen still in the depths of Winter." He nodded as if that made perfect sense and it did to Sasuke and Naruto but Sakura raised an eyebrow not used to Gai's unique speech.

"He's dangerous." Naruto translated for her benefit.

"You are his old team mate's team." Gai spoke slowly. "I do not believe…based on memories that he would harm you out of past fondness for Obito."

"What's in Konoha that he could want after what…fourteen years?" Neji calculated. "Something he needed a Konoha team for? He practically knows the layout of the village already."

"He's getting rid of the people that knew him best." Sakura whispered. "First Obito, then Rin in one move. Was there anyone else close to him?"

Gai was silent for a minute. "Me." He answered finally. "He was my youthful rival." A rare frustration shone in his voice. "But fear not, I am difficult to remove from active duty. He has no means to trick me into legal custody."

Sasuke pointed at Gai. "What if we wander in the forest as bait with your team acting as back up to test whether all our theories are true or not? We don't know _anything, _it might not even be Firudo."

"Sempai!" Floated an annoyed familiar voice. "You should have taken them into custody as well. Now we have to track them down and subdue them again."

"Are you frightened of three pre-teens?" Came a snapped response. "They're children. _Genin._ Their words don't count in court against their own sensei. I had no reason to take them in."

Sasuke stiffened. Kurenai was going to take them in too?

There was a heavy sigh from Neji who rolled his eyes at heaven.

"You know where the main compound is?" He told Sasuke briskly. "Three houses down to the left. Be _discrete _Uchiha."

In unison Gai and Lee started their insane punching routine again. Tenten and a good ten yards around her disappeared in a blur of steel and kunai in a jaw dropping display of wires and juggling.

"Because I owe you for dinner." Neji stated blandly. "I'll show you this. Get back."

He settled into a strange balanced pose and _spun._

White ferocious chakra exploded out of every part of him, in a roaring crunching hemisphere obscuring the part of the training field not already covered in dust and weapons. Sasuke could feel the force of the spinning on his face and dear Kami Byakugan users could do that?

"Shit!" They heard Genma curse. "What is with this team?"

They ran.

Thanking Obito with all their hearts for teaching them chakra aided parkour the three of them took to the trees, jumping here and there ignoring the sounds of Gai booming behind them.

A tree twig caught Sasuke on the cheek and it sent a line of pain down his face but luckily no blood.

When they reached the end of the trees Naruto flipped onto a nearby roof, misjudged, overshot, somehow hung on to a washing line with a chakra and went screaming into a woman with a basket of laundry.

"Naruto!" Sasuke picked him up the collar. "Clones. Now."

He nodded grimly and mouthing sorry to the stunned woman ten clones flickered into life around them.

"They won't be aiming for you." Sasuke spoke at the same time as Sakura blurted. "They won't be after me."

"Rather." She elaborated. "They won't care if they don't find me, I'm a civilian and I have no kekkei genkei. _What do you want me to do?_"

For one brief instant Sasuke was struck with gladness they had got a competent kunoichi instead of a girl who fell over her feet blushing when she saw a boy.

"Do not." Sasuke stressed with his hands. "Do _not _go into the woods outside Konoha on your own. We've already had a circumstance where Firudo met you alone in a forest, let's not repeat that."

"That's great." Sakura spoke flatly sounding slightly irritated. "But I didn't ask for a list what not to do."

"Guys move!" Naruto was shouting and all three vaulted off the roof, clones henging into replicas of Team 7 and scattering. They skidded down the wall completely horizontally, feet burning with the friction and leapt through an open window, rolling onto a table (thankfully the room was empty) and straight out of another open window on the other side.

"The legal system." Sasuke told Sakura when they finally stopped a few streets down. Thankfully it seemed running and hiding Nin were a common occurrence because no one said a damn thing about them diving under a fully covered table at a café. "Find out what happens, what the defence is…and how much time we have."

She nodded and was gone in a whisper of cloth.

"Just you and me huh." Naruto grinned at Sasuke who felt a rising excitement build in him. "Excuse number 27?"

"Sounds good to me."

And both of them tore off in completely the opposite direction to the library, ducking and weaving between civilians and bored Nin in the streets.

….###############################################################...

"Alright." Naruto snapped his fingers at Sasuke when they slid into two seats at the local theatre. "If you were two fully trained Nin with a stupidly selective hearing where would you think two pissed off and scared barely trained brats would go?"

"Places of comfort." Sasuke replied immediately. "Allies to help us, that's how they found us with Gai."

Naruto's grin was wicked. "And where do you think they'll never expect for us to go?"

"The theatre?" Sasuke deadpanned scanning the civilian packed crowd. "It's kind of the reason we came here."

Naruto opened his mouth, closed it again looking thoughtful and leant back in his seat.

"You have a point my friend."

Five minutes later.

"I'm so bored."

"Why _is _that girl wailing? He barely got stabbed."

"For the last time Ninja do _not _dress up in all black and walk like that! If he died at the hands of some conspicuous idiot like that he deserved it."

Sasuke and Naruto stewed in their seats as the civilians sent them glares and demands to hush.

"Please tell me this is comedy and I can laugh." Naruto muttered drumming his fingers against his cheek.

Sasuke checked the leaflet. "Romantic tragedy."

The blond groaned and slumped. "The only tragedy happening is that we have to endure this to throw Kurenai off."

Naruto stiffened. "Several of my clones just died. They're on to our trick."

The next hour passed with both boys finding the only humour in their situation they could. The reputation of the play suffered _terribly._ (Some civilians even laughed at the commentary.)

The door to the theatre slammed open.

Both genin slumped lower in the seats and using this as a convenient excuse slid completely onto the floor. It was dark in the theatre and crowded, two small boys sneaking around would go absolutely unnoticed.

Sasuke dared a peek at who had interrupted the play.

Genma stood framed a scowl on his face, a senbon in mouth and hands over his chest. Kurenai next to him looked _very _frustrated.

"Oh look who found us." Naruto whispered sounding perfectly unconcerned. "This is payback bastard for messing with Sakura's head in the bell test."

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke very calmly. "The interval is in five minutes. That's when _all _the lights come _on._"

Naruto hurled a vicious profanity at no one in particular. "They'll track use of Kawarimi instantly." He peeked over the top of his seat.

"Not if there's lots of them." Sasuke hunkered down next to him spying on the two Nin. "What if you create lots of clones and we all instantly use Kawarimi?"

"We Kawarimi third closest to them then." Naruto whispered, the plan developing at light speed between them, just as fast as it had always been.

"Henge as yourself." Sasuke craned his neck to get a better angle. "Then by some miracle if they hit us there'll be smoke and they'll think we were bunshin."

Naruto nodded and raised his hand in the bunshin seal. The tightness wound in Sasuke all the way through the play unleased itself as a rush of smooth energy and as if acting on some synchronised signal ten clones blinked into existence then twelve Kawarimis happened in the millisecond after.

Kurenai and Genma's heads swivelled as if locking onto a scent.

Sasuke reappeared by the doors twenty feet from the duo in the dark, Naruto by his side with two pairs of clones in his way. Kurenai's eyes still locked on to his with deadly accuracy, red eyes gleaming out of her face.

Something trickled down his spine and he stuck his tongue out acting like Naruto.

Then they were out and running up the steps to the main square. Had she seen through their ploy?

"Shit that's some good aim." Naruto muttered racing up the never ending steps. "Five gone already."

Something hit him in the shoulder, piercing cloth, skin and flesh in a prick of pain and the Sasuke henge Sasuke had on dispelled immediately in a cloud of smoke. He dove for the blind side of a statue the moment the cloud came into existence and hopefully they would take that as a clone dispelling.

"Double back." Naruto's voice floated in his ear and Sasuke was running after him keeping his footsteps silent weaving among the throng of people on the street. His heart was thumping in his neck and a grin threatened to break out on his face. This was _fun_, then he caught himself: this was necessary to save Obito, he couldn't treat it like a game.

He turned a corner just in time to miss Kurenai and Genma stalk out of the theatre to hunt down another pair of clones. Naruto didn't however.

"Dude, dude, stop." Naruto stopped Sasuke from going any further. "_Listen._"

"They're so on to us." Genma sighed. "And making it actively difficult. Permission to break both their legs when found sempai? I'll fix them up later I promise."

"Don't be stupid." Kurenai shot him down. "Uchiha will murder you from his holding cell. And they're demonstrating why they were considered two of the genii in their year." Kurenai clacked up the steps elegantly. "I see no problem in honing their skills if I have taken their sensei away from them."

"We're not here to play with them sempai!" Genma protested.

"But that's what they're doing to us."

Genma shut up by biting on his senbon so hard it snapped.

"It pisses me off." He admitted eventually.

"It's not our aim to make them feel like fugitives in their own village." Kurenai passed a hand over her forehead.

"The Hokage wants to hear their side of the story." Genma reminded her. "Can't do that if they're hiding from us."

"Then we send someone they trust." Kurenai finished flatly before striding away.

Sasuke and Naruto released their held breaths and slumped against the wall.

"We can't act against the Hokage's order." Naruto's voice was barely a whisper.

Sasuke shook his head slowly. "We haven't heard it yet."

"But-"

"We _haven't _heard it yet."

The blond let out a little delighted laugh. "If you want to play like that."

"It's getting dark." Sasuke looked up at the sky critically. "Time to regroup. Come on."

….###################################################################...

"I'm here to see my distant cousin." Sasuke snapped at the Hyuuga guard and they were admitted access right away. It helped both of them had attended family dinners with the Hyuugas a couple of times in the past.

"Private business." Naruto told the blank faced woman. "Tell _no one._" And walked off after Sasuke.

They walked right past Neji's house, circled around and using chakra clambered like lizards up the back of the house and let themselves in through a window.

They fell into a bed and when they looked up there was a Hyuuga woman with a covered forehead bowing to them as if they hadn't just broken in.

"Hello." Naruto said.

"Welcome guests of Neji-san." She straightened. "He is waiting for you with your team mate in the dining room."

"Byakugan." Sasuke sighed. "Of course."

There was an amused twist to the woman's face now. "Please follow me."

Neji greeted them in typical seiza, expression as cool as ever. A cup of steaming tea sat in front of him and Sakura at the knee height table. Maps and hand written notes covered the area in front of their team mate and she waved at them in a distracted manner before returning to her work.

"You have a senbon in your shoulder."

Sasuke had forgotten about that. Naruto pulled it out for him and the feeling of metal leaving his flesh was surprisingly satisfying.

"Not checking to see if we are who we say we are?" Sasuke muttered as he dropped at one side of the table. Neither of them used seiza, they didn't have the practice to pull it off or longer than five minutes.

"You cannot fool a Hyuuga." Neji told him serenely but Sasuke did hear the smug undertones to the words. "Thank you Akira."

The woman placed the plates of food in front of all four of them, smiled and bowed her way out. Sasuke was almost sure that the domestic servant was all an act and that the woman was far more dangerous than she seemed.

Seeing as how they had evaded Kurenai and Genma nearly all day Sasuke should have been hungry but he wasn't. His stomach felt blocked off and filled with stone, he wasn't sure he could take one chopstick bite. Naruto stared at his plate mournfully but didn't move to eat. And out of loyalty or genuine unease if her team wasn't eating Sakura left her chopsticks alone too.

Neji actually looked irritated.

"Do you think you can help your sensei by starving yourself?" There was a bite to his snap. "I _get _it. You're worried. And he's probably worried about you, do you want to prove him right that he was right to be worrying about you?"

"We never asked." Naruto asked reluctantly picking up chopsticks. "Why are you helping us?"

Neji didn't even glance up. "Uchiha Obito is distant kin of mine. Gai sensei is convinced he is innocent, we all heard the story you told and I can read you well enough to be certain there were no lies. And perhaps." His voice grew ever so slightly dark. "The village needs to be defied."

Slight shame coated the back of Sasuke's throat. The older boy had recognised the fact they were hurt and confused and given clear concise answers to every question they had asked him to avoid making the situation worse. He was sure Neji didn't like any of them, he may have been indifferent towards Sakura for treating him to dinner, but fact remained he didn't like wasting time with them. He was helping them all the same.

He reached for his chopsticks, the least he could do was not appear ungrateful for the food Neji had offered them.

"You know you asked me to find out about the legal system?" Sakura's fingers were white and clamped on her knees. "There isn't one."

Naruto and Sasuke's chopsticks snapped in their hands.

"Civilian courts have a judge, jury and lawyers but shinobi courts answer directly to the Hokage. It can happen whenever and be as short as five minutes for the Hokage to come to a decision. Yes our Hokage is a good man so it's likely Obito will be allowed to defend himself but _he _has to do it."

"If the Hokage wants to hear our part of the story." Naruto was slowly regaining colour in his cheeks getting louder. "Then Obito _won't _be trialled until he's heard it. There's no point asking for us otherwise. And Obito-Nii is still in the cells!"

Neji threw a scroll at Sasuke who caught it easily.

"Gai sensei took a joint mission out of the village tomorrow." Neji didn't smirk but there was a flash of teeth in his smile. "Secrecy in a hidden village can backfire sometimes; not telling the mission dispatchers about troublesome teams in one example." He drummed his fingers on the table. "I do wonder how long you can get away with defying the Hokage's will."

Sasuke unrolled the scroll and started to chuckle at the details.

"Do we actually have a plan beyond 'find Firudo'?" Sakura asked dryly.

"Nope." Naruto popped the p. "I can't believe we're actually going hunting him out."

…..############################################################...

"So it would be nice if you exist." Sasuke spoke to a rudimentary carving of the three gods of the Uchiha clan. Amaterasu looked like a blob with spaghetti arms and legs, Susano'o and Tsukuyomi had seen better artistic days.

"But Obito's been arrested and if you would…look after him…" Sasuke looked up at the sky from where he was sitting in Neji's backyard and drawing in the dirt. "All the probability says that you probably don't exist but I'm willing to take a chance on this one. I know my cousin's not the best at praying to you and I'm hardly any better but…after all this time our family deserves something good right?"

His scratches in the dirt weren't very dignified and Sasuke was slightly amused to think of the reaction the gods would have if they actually existed and was actually listening to him.

…..#########################################################...

None of them could sleep that night and stayed up in a room with candles around the table plotting out plans and strategies how to identify each other and how to deal with Firudo. The Hyuuga compound was dark and silent with nearly everyone asleep and they had to be careful not to make too much noise.

Taking advantage of Neji's extra year of experience they were able to come up with a few plans at least how to stop the Nin from messing with all of their heads.

Sasuke's watch struck 1.30 when Neji's jaw locked tight and he stiffened, eyes narrowing to rainbow sheen slits. Hyuuga's normally looked terrifying with their optical veins bulging and Neji had been practicing extending his range when he went from terrifying to downright _lethal._

"What?" Sasuke asked sharply hackles rising instantly. Naruto went silent, face hard and serious recognising the fact something must be seriously wrong. Fearing the worst Sakura started to roll up scrolls-

"Intruders." Neji barked, uncurling swiftly to his feet. "Heading for the Main Compound. I do not recognise their networks."

There was a moment of stunned silence as Team 7 stared at him.

How damn lucky were the Hyuuga that Neji had actually been awake to catch this threat?

All three of them leapt to their feet and raced after a rapidly leaving Neji.

"Could they be Konoha Nin after us?" Sakura whispered. "Perhaps they thought you were staying with Hinata and her family instead. Neji can't know every single chakra network in Konoha."

Neji heard her or saw her lips because he answered curtly before Sasuke opened his mouth.

"No Konoha Nin would attempt to sneak into the Main Compound via the backdoor."

They melted into the cold night, pressing against buildings and sneaking down the streets until the Main Compound came into view. It was an impressive building with sliding doors and exquisite carvings but it seemed stern and very, very big and black in the dark.

"Not going to raise an alarm?" Naruto hissed.

There was something very bitter in Neji's face and a weary amusement that Sasuke thought he imagined because it was gone in the next second.

"No. It'll make the intruders desperate and more dangerous."

It sounded rational but Sasuke wasn't sure. Some instinct blared at him this wasn't the only reason but he crushed it. Neji was the Hyuuga here, it was his call.

Neji stopped dead in the dark. "They're headed to Hanabi-sama's room." They could all hear the sneer. "Situation's changed. Make as much noise as possible."

Why was Neji calling his younger cousin Sama?

He flung a few exploding tags away and they exploded like fireworks illuminating the side of the house in green, red and white. The thunderous cracks augmented by Naruto's wolf impression and Sakura knocking trash bins over was sure to wake people up and alert them to the danger.

Neji was stock still the whole time not making one move to help them, jaw tight.

"You don't like your cousin?" Sakura attempted to talk.

Neji's glare was ferocious. "Focus on your family issues before commenting on mine Haruno." Sakura flinched back and Sasuke felt a stab of anger at the unjustified snap. Then Neji seemed to remember Sakura was a guest and younger than him and maybe she wasn't as dislikeable as her team mates because he sighed and cut himself off in the middle of another curt retort.

Lights flickered on in the house in front of them.

"They've been spotted." Neji turned to go. "We're done here, go back before people see you too."

Naruto stepped in front of him. "Not until we _know _your family is safe."

"Don't be stupid. Our vision is absolute." Neji spoke scathingly stepping past him. "They're not getting away and Hiashi-sama is on the case."

Naruto stared at his back and out of the blue held his hands up in the kage bunshin seal. Another Naruto flickered into life and Neji stopped.

"Can you tell the difference Neji?" Naruto asked quietly. "Your eyes are not infallible. You _can _be tricked. Remember when we said there was something coming?"

Neji half turned and there was horror bleaching his already pale face.

"You think that's Kakashi?" he rasped. Sasuke agreed because that thought was terrifying, Kakashi loose in a village where he had grown up and knew the secrets of was absolutely hair raising.

"I'm being paranoid here." Naruto raised his hands. "It's probably some stupid attempt at getting the Byakugan and there's loads of people who want it."

All the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up as the smell of ozone filled the air. Neji's head snapped to the side-

Every single window in the main building lit up with a cold brilliant light blinding them. It was like a beacon blazing in every window roaring with a thunderous crack, some of the glass shattered charred to pieces and there was the sound of people screaming.

Neji was howling on the ground next to them, kneeling and clutching at his eyes. His eyes were burning, the sheer brightness of the light had turned his vision into blobs of neon colours on black. Sasuke gasped and blinked rapidly feeling water run down his cheeks.

"Shit." Sakura swore.

Chakra induced light and _all _the Hyuugas had seen the light in its entirety, filling up the house and covering their eyes wouldn't do a single thing. He wouldn't be surprised if all of the Hyuugas remained catatonic for a few minutes after that pain.

Well at least the rest of Konoha had to have noticed that.

Silver Lining.

"I know, I know." Naruto hauled Neji to his feet somehow already recovered. "Now is not the time to say I told you so but come on!" By some miracle Sakura had been facing the other direction and so hadn't been turned useless. She took Neji's other arm and helped Naruto stagger into the compound.

Sasuke leapt over Hyuugas kneeling on the floor and gasping clutching their eyes. Grabbing a torch from a guard he shone it down the dark corridors Neji was instructing them to take.

"How many intruders did you see?" Sakura demanded huffing slightly with the older boy's weight.

"Two." Neji gasped shaking off his kohai as he regained some control over the pain pounding through his head. Very, very gingerly his Byakugan flickered into life and he sighed in exasperation.

"They've got Hanabi."

"Where?"

"This is bad." Neji muttered. "Her Byakugan isn't safe."

"Safe?" Sasuke asked an ominous feeling wafting off that word. In answer Neji slid his headband up revealing a seal etched into his forehead.

"Safe." He repeated grimly and Sasuke knew what he was talking about. The Uchiha had a similar process in the clan wars before Madara and Izuna had risen from the branch house and shaken off their seal in a feat no one had achieved since then.

"Hinata…" Sakura was staring at that seal in slowly dawning horror. "Doesn't have that seal either. Didn't you say there were two intruders?"

"Hinata-sama is in her room." Neji answered curtly. "Both intruders are together, they only want one of us." He took a few steps forward and leant heavily against the wall, vision swaying.

A vicious profanity escaped his mouth and he forced himself to remain upright.

"You'll thank me for this later." Naruto told him sincerely before three of his clones promptly picked Neji up cursing and almost hissing in rage between them.

"Now." And the blond sounded much older. "Which way?"

"Stairs." Neji bit out. "Lead directly to the above garden, they've water walked on the stream down the mini waterfall and that cuts straight through the branch housing to the outer wall of Konoha."

Nobody commented on the waterfall.

"Let's go get your cousin back." Sasuke muttered taking lead and breaking into a fact paced sprint.

They reached the garden in half a minute through various sliding doors and frustrating corridors. The screen leading to the beautiful moonlit garden was torn off its hinges, the first sign of an actual struggle they had seen, and a cold breeze flowed into the house.

A winding stream trickled through the beautifully kept garden and not far off it tumbled off the edge of the marble balcony and down into the Hyuuga grounds in a spray of foam.

"You know how to water walk?" Neji asked slightly scathingly.

"Don't need it." Sakura answered and back flipped over the edge of the marble balcony disappearing out of sight in seconds.

"…That's quite a drop to do backwards." Neji stated evenly.

"We're actually trained for this." Sasuke felt a flash of amusement at the flat look on Neji's face.

"Throwing yourself off balconies." The Hyuuga stated flatly.

"And more." Naruto chirped, three clones springing into life around him and taking the drop at a running jump.

Having known Naruto most of his life Sasuke understood immediately what he was going to do. He clamped a hand over his mouth to stop even the smallest laugh from escaping. Neji had _no _idea what he was dealing with.

"Please don't hate me." Naruto told Neji quite sincerely.

"Wha-"

The three Naruto clones holding Neji up swung their arms back and threw the stunned boy in a parabolic arc straight over the balcony.

"It was the fastest way!" Naruto yelled after him and jumped. Sasuke couldn't quite hide a strangled hiss of laughter and jumped off himself landing into a roll.

"Let me down _now_!" Neji looked furious enough to dismember Naruto. "Uzumaki, if we didn't have an emergency I _would _throw you off the Hokage heads for that." Three Jyuuken strikes made quick work of the clones and Neji straightened, eyes flashing fire.

"Hanabi." Sakura coughed.

"Tch." Neji turned away. "Follow me." It seemed the after effects of the light had worn off and they made fast pace through the Hyuuga grounds. It was part of the compound dedicated to training and planting crops so there were no houses or Hyuuga to help them out or slow the kidnappers down.

Neji was _fast._

Ridiculously fast.

Under the sky and in the pale grass he was just a tan and dark blur jumping over gates getting further and further away. For the first time Sasuke appreciated the benefits of pure speed, then Neji went and got even _faster _when he caught sight of his cousin.

"This is ridiculous." Sakura gasped as she tried to keep up with them.

His own legs and lungs were burning with the effort not to fall behind but he could see two dark blurs in the distance.

"Uchiha!" Neji barked from far ahead of them. "_Fire._ Now. At me."

At him? If he insisted.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke breathed fire in a raging spout and Neji proved why he was considered the prodigy in the year above.

On his next step Neji launched himself into the air and spun in the same rushing roaring white chakra from before. The fire collided with the immensely loud spinning chakra from before and Neji must have been spinning the other way because the fire streaked around the dome in giant bright streaks going faster and tighter near the top until it shot off as a pillar of flame into the night sky. It hit the clouds and the clouds lit up like the sun was rising; glowing red, orange and white against the inky blackness like the biggest beacon Sasuke had ever seen.

Neji dropped out of the remnants of the fading chakra and fire like a hunting cat and strutted forward a few steps.

"Hand over my cousin now." His voice echoed over the field. "Before the ANBU get here and it gets worse for you."

"Wow." Sakura shook her head to blink at the spectacular sight. "Just…_wow._"

One of the dark blurs continued straight on while one wheeled around to face Neji.

"We'll take this one!" Naruto wheezed from his position and flapped a hand at Neji's back. "Go after Hanabi."

Neji shot them a look which doubted their skills, talents and competence in one raised eyebrow before nodding once and taking off after the fleeing Nin.

The Nin was tall and what they could see of his skin was tanned with small scars criss-crossing the skin. His face was completely obscured but the gleaming white bone under the hood was responsible for that. A sad theatre mask stared back mournfully at the three genin.

"You'll take me?" His voice was slow, deep and slightly sorrowful. "Children please reconsider."

Sasuke started analysing immediately: six feet three, prominent muscles under the dark clothes, tanned skin (so not Kumo or the mountain Ninja got sneakier than usual), and a theatre mask? Maybe a symbol of an organisation? Obviously not a rogue Nin, rogue Nin had no need of the trouble of stealing the Byakugan without some serious guarantees for protection from the wrathful Hyuugas.

As if a mask could stop the Byakugan anyway. Pah.

Naruto raised his hand in the bunshin seal still wheezing.

A legion of clones popped into life surrounding them and the Nin who had the grace to appear startled.

"Tragedy-san." Naruto called out. "I'm going to kick your ass for kidnapping an eight year old girl."

"Catch your breath first." The Nin advised sounding completely sincere. "That was quite a run."

Naruto tilted his head not expecting that at all.

The man shifted giving Sasuke a good guess at the length of his arms and legs. They would have to be stupid to get in close with their pitiful training in offence.

The clones pounced and promptly vanished into a puff of smoke before they got within a foot of the man. A long wicked chain danced through the air as the Nin settled into an elegant looking pose.

"I think his range outranges our range." Sakura muttered sounding perfectly serious.

He heard the chain coming before he saw it. Throwing himself to the side, he hit the ground hard and rolled as the chain punched the air they had been (that would have absolutely skewered them) and ran around the man to get him surrounded. All they needed to do was keep him _there _until higher Nin arrived.

During his roll he came quite close to the fence and inspiration struck him. Ripping a post out of the ground became easier when the chain smashed into the fence just next to him after a lewd hand gesture. Sasuke hefted the slender wooden rod in his hands and calculated his next move.

While the chain had been in his direction Sakura had thrown numerous shuriken which had all been knocked away by the chain retracting at lightning speed. Naruto met his bloody eyes from across the field and nodded grimly.

His next kunai throw had a kunai hidden in its shadow and since the chain had already passed the point the first kunai was knocked away with a clang, the second continued straight for the man who swung the chain in a circle to get it back to where it needed to be.

Coincidentally passing right by Sasuke in the process. Leaping at the chain, heart juddering slightly he brought the rod down with all his strength, the wood sliding between the rings on the chain and embedding it firmly in the ground. The chain didn't stop, it had too much momentum for that.

Instead the rod dragged a trench along the ground then snapped in half ruining the smooth movements of the chain. Sasuke was dragged along for a few yards before his grip became too bloody to hold on properly and he was thrown into the fence.

Shit that hurt.

Those few seconds was enough. The second kunai which had carried straight on puffed into a clone of Naruto who threw three shuriken at point blank range before flipping past him. He _had _to dodge, and in that movement turned his back to Sakura.

_Bang._

There was the sound of something hitting flesh with a dull thwack and a grunt of pain.

Tragedy-san fished out a bloody nail from his shoulder and stared at the harmless looking pink haired girl. Sakura smiled grimly back, nail gun pointed straight at the man, finger on the trigger.

It was bright orange. (Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh.)

Three Hyuuga cut in front of them so fast they almost missed it. They were literal blurs of air dodging and weaving the thrashing of the chain. A spike of mud erupted from the ground engulfing part of the chain and hardened trapping it causing it to swing in small circles. Two blurs came from two sides and in one smooth hit all down each side of the Nin.

He swayed once, coughed up blood and collapsed.

Naruto's jaw flapped open.

Hiashi knelt next to the man fist knotted in the Nin's hair and wrenched his head back. Two other Hyuuga watched with grim expressions.

"My daughter_._" The Hyuuga Head asked mildly. "You wouldn't happen to know anything would you?" His grip became more forceful until the neck was bending at a painful angle.

"Neji went after the second one." Sasuke spoke up to his part time reluctant pseudo uncle. "Into the forest outside the walls."

"Thank you Sasuke." Hiashi replied. "Rei, Takada take this miserable specimen to our personal cells and find out exactly what his plan was." He straightened all sinuous muscle and lethal grace. His Byakugan was paler than Neji's, the rainbow sheen not present making it seem like he was blind until one noticed the multitude of bulging optic veins.

"I will help my nephew." He nodded coolly at Team 7. "Afterwards we will have a chat why you were in the compound in the first place." His face softened slightly. "Good work."

He vanished in a blur of speed.

Rei and Takada were securing Tragedy-san in a secure tie and nodded to the genin in a distracted manner.

Sakura sent him a questioning look.

"We're related." Sasuke shrugged. "Sort of."

"You should have seen their faces when Obito introduced me as his little brother." Naruto snickered into his hand. "Now shall we find a room to hole up in before Kurenai and her squad get here? She's the head of justice after all."

The slender Hyuuga woman hefted the over six foot Nin easily over her shoulder and motioned for Team 7 to follow her.

**There you go, an early update and a nice long chapter for you ^.^. Leave a review on what you thought?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy the chapter ****.**

Hiashi didn't come back. One by one teams of stern looking Hyuuga exited the compound one by one to search for their missing child. Neji came back unconscious five hours later, headband missing and leg broken.

ANBU came and interrogated them about the disturbance and how intruders had succeeded in infiltrating Konoha. Thankfully they didn't seem to have any knowledge or orders to bring Team 7 to the Hokage or they had been shuffled to a lower priority because after a tense few minutes they weren't taken anywhere.

It seemed the one with Hanabi was the more dangerous one by far. They had got lucky.

"Neji-san is asking for you." A stately woman told them crisply and led them to a medic bay where the older boy was lying in a fuuton with his leg fixed to a frame. He didn't bother to turn his head with his Byakugan activated.

"Did you have a person wearing an emotion mask too?" Sasuke asked at once.

"Yes." Neji nodded back. "Surprise. You?"

"Sadness. We just called him Tragedy-san." Naruto huffed, hands in pockets.

"There was another." Neji's lip curled. "Broke my leg with an arrow like jutsu from outside my range. Bastard then knocked me out instead of killing me I don't know why."

Sasuke did notice Neji did _not _state his range. Paranoid shit.

"Hanabi?" Sakura leant forward eyes narrowed.

The Hyuuga looked like he wanted to sigh but his training kept his face locked rigid.

"Taken." He admitted. "I got knocked out and Hiashi-sama didn't get there until a few minutes after. His range is good but not that good, he's out now with ANBU and our own to find any trail they can."

Sasuke closed his eyes. A young female unsealed Byakugan user was exceedingly vulnerable outside of the village. She would be safe for a few more years until her eyes matured and grew to adult size but then…that was assuming that couldn't be done artificially. Maybe.

"Why isn't everyone sealed then?" Sakura asked forehead crunching in confusion. "It eliminates situations like this that her eyes can be taken."

Both of Neji's eyebrows rose. "No it doesn't." He spoke coolly. "The seal destroys our eyes the second they are removed. Doesn't stop us from losing them. And Hanabi the way things were going would have never been sealed. Not counting today." He added on quickly.

"But why?" Sakura pressed. "It's a failsafe right?"

"Sakura." Sasuke warned. She ignored him.

Neji stared then really did sigh. "The seal has more functions than just destroying our eyes." His hands twisted in the fuuton and Sasuke noticed there was the slight sheen of sedatives in his eyes. He really doubted Neji would be telling them anything more than 'None of your business' otherwise.

"During the clan wars when the Shodaime Hokage founded Konoha along with Uchiha Madara, Hyuuga Kahari and Hyuuga Kaezaki were in charge of the Hyuuga clan. There was no seal back in those times, the clan was too small. The Shodaime approached them and asked them to consider joining the fledgling village." His smile was bitter.

"Kaezaki said yes. Kahari said no. But the two sisters were too close to argue like that and Kahari agreed to join the village is Kaezaki showed suitable proof that the Hyuuga would be safe and protected. Kaezaki and the Shodaime's wife worked out a rudimentary version of the seal that just destroyed the eyes on death or removal and Kaezaki sealed herself and her family as a demonstration."

Neji's fists were trembling ever so slightly.

"A generation or two passed and the First War broke out. Kaezaki's three sons turned traitor and nearly ripped the Hyuuga clan in two with in clan fighting. The traitors and their families were allowed to live but their seal was upgraded to what we have now and shunted down into the beginning of the branch house."

He chuckled very dryly. "It's ironic, we condemned the Uchiha for the same structure in the clan wars and they lost it with the founding of Konoha while we gained it. To avoid the same crisis of traitors happening again the practice spread out of fear and concern until the main branch was reduced to just Kahari's direct line of descent."

"Haven't you got it yet?" He asked Sakura mockingly pointing at his seal. "The seal is a cage! It stops us from acting against the main branch because a word from them can cause such agonising pain our brains give out instantly."

Sakura was _white._

Naruto gripped her shoulder looking at her sharply. "Sakura?"

"How…" She croaked. "How did it turn from a demonstration of sisterly loyalty to a dictatorship?"

A sad knowing smirk twisted Neji's lips.

"Out of Hinata and Hanabi, one _will _fall into the branch house." He said with conviction. "Would have." He corrected himself.

"Tch." Naruto looked away face agonised, arms wound tightly over his chest. His gaze flickered at Sasuke's clear forehead and it dropped away almost immediately.

Sasuke had seen a picture of the seal the Uchihas used once. It was hauntingly beautiful and in Sasuke's nightmares there was something _living _in the lines of that seal looking out with an old alien intelligence not caring who it trapped or hurt. A third eye on the forehead represented wisdom and foresight in the days it had been implemented. In his time it meant a loss of freedom and privacy. Funny how the meaning of a symbol changed over time.

"The Shodaime's wife." Neji said softly, almost kindly. "Legend is her name was Uzumaki."

Naruto sat down hard on the floor, knees completely water. An odd sort of tension hung in the room like a copper wire pulled taut and vibrating.

"You're the first Uzumaki I've seen." Neji continued. "Is there _any _chance at all you can remove whatever monstrosity your ancestor cooked up?" He sounded desperate and Sasuke knew Naruto's heart was breaking.

The blond would empathise with the loss of freedom, social outcasts and nearly everything about the Hyuuga's situation and his heart was too _soft. _He would hurt himself and Sasuke could _not _allow that. Would not allow it. Sasuke knew the weight of carrying his family's sin and Naruto, who searched and searched and searched, did not deserve this.

Naruto's head shook from side to side not able to look at the bed ridden boy. His fingers clenched in the fabric of his shirt over his stomach.

Sasuke felt sick.

That damn seal.

Damn the thing!

"No." Naruto's voice was rougher than sandpaper. "I don't know the first thing about seals." His fingers clenched tighter until the fabric strained at his shoulders.

"That's like saying I can cast black fire out of my eyes because my ancestors could." Sasuke cut in sharply. "Don't be stupid Hyuuga."

An angry contempt passed through Neji's eyes. He was furious Sasuke guessed with himself for daring to hope after years and showing what he thought as weakness. It faded into a weary resentment and smouldered in the back of his gaze like ever present ghosts.

"I imagine you have had a lot of people commenting on the fact you're not clan born with the natural advantages." Neji spoke harshly to a still horrified Sakura. "Well? In the very depths of your heart aren't you glad?"

"I would _never _want another family than the one I have." Sakura's voice was high and trembling with an emotion Sasuke couldn't identify.

"Heh." Neji turned away apparently satisfied then abruptly snapped back to business. Watching the change was painful. "You can't stay here now. Kurenai and Genma _will _hear about this, I'll give you Ten-"

"Bad idea." Naruto interrupted holding up a hand. "If they find out we were here your team will fall on their radar. We'll hide out at Sakura's and hope they don't think we would go back to an obvious spot. In the morning we can check out the forest in full daylight to see if there are any clues or tracks that people may have missed in the dark."

"After all." Sasuke spoke smoothly sharing a mischievous glance with Naruto. "We fought Tragedy-san, we've had direct contact with one of the people carrying out the operation. That gave us an insight into how their minds worked. We _could _pick something up they missed."

…##############################################################...

Haruno Aisa met the intruders sneaking in through her daughter's window with a baseball bat.

There was a lot of shrieking and squeaking (in Naruto's case) and Sakura babbling out half the reasons Sasuke and Naruto had to hide out at theirs for a few hours.

The woman sent them a frigid green glare bat hanging from one hand, hair pulled back in a messy bun.

"Make yourselves at home." She said not without a little trace of sarcasm before sweeping out.

"A baseball bat?" Naruto squeaked again. "How? What? _Why?_"

"Ahh my fault I'm afraid." Sakura laughed sheepishly. "I made all the joints in the house extra squeaky and she must have been awake to hear my window open. And err mother isn't the type to take robbers lying down."

"She's still here." And Sasuke's slight humour at the situation froze to iron at the slightly confused mutter their kunoichi let out staring at the door.

Aisa only stayed for a day or two with her daughter before leaving for weeks? His opinion of the woman plummeted.

Sakura's room was painted in a series of swooping dark blue and silvery tones of blue imitating the waves of the ocean in the dark. Books on science, maths and bizarrely kekkei genkei littered her desk and chairs with the floor neat and covered in a sound muffling carpet.

Naruto plucked the book on Kekkei Genkei off the desk and checked the page. Sakura tensed.

"Wrong. Wrong." He muttered flicking through the pages. "Utterly mistaken, that's a myth-" He snapped the book shut.

"If you wanted to find out about mine you could borrow books from our library." He told Sakura seriously a hint of a smile softening the blunt statement. "I wouldn't tell what it was, it's a village secret after all, but pointing you to better books _is _something I can do. And err don't read books on shinobi written by civilians. This book is absolute trash." He tossed it back on the table.

"Hey guess what Sasuke." Naruto called. "The Sharingan can apparently read minds." He spread his arms. "Why did you never tell me dude?"

Sasuke snorted not bothering to reply. The things people believed.

Sakura flushed. "Okay that sounds really bad." She admitted. The clock on her wall struck four in the morning.

The smell of coffee drifted up from the ground floor. The scent seemed to remind Sasuke's body that he hadn't been asleep in 22 hours and his eyelids felt heavy all of a sudden. He upended part of his bottle of water in his face to keep himself awake.

"Come down." Sakura was looking at him strangely. "The coffee's probably for us."

It was.

Haruno Aisa despite everything was an impeccable hostess setting cups of coffee in front of everyone and a plate of snacks at the centre of the table.

"There's enough espresso in there to restart someone's heart." She warned sipping at her own cup. "I thought you would need it. Now tell me everything, all of the truth this time."

Sasuke took a sip and the caffeine hit him like a battering ram. Dear Kami that was _strong._ He took another sip gladly.

"Obito-nii's been arrested on suspicion of being in cohorts with Kakashi." Naruto spoke first sounding very tired. "Hyuuga Hanabi, one of the Hyuuga heiresses, has been kidnapped. We think that Kakashi is somehow involved in all of this crisis and there are men in masks running around." He slumped over the table and took a gulp of coffee. "Kurenai and Genma have orders to bring us to the Hokage so Obito can have a defence but that means we lose time trying to find proof of his innocence, our trials are notoriously fast."

"Kakashi being the same Nin who helped you in the forest." Aisa asked her daughter who grimaced.

"We don't even know if that is Kakashi." She admitted. "We're just rolling with the assumption he is."

"And _is _he innocent?" The Haruno matriarch asked mildly peering into her cup.

Something about that voice raised the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck.

"Yes." He snapped before anyone else could open their mouths.

"Sakura." Aisa spoke serenely. "Phone. Now."

"Yes!" Sakura's grin threatened to fall off her face as she ran for a phone hanging off a receiver on the wall.

Aisa held her hand out and tapped a few numbers into the number pad.

"This is Haruno Aisa speaking." Aisa barked into the phone. "Get me Bokuto-san immediately."

"What is she doing?" Sasuke hissed to Sakura.

"Creating trouble for the Hokage." Sakura's voice was absolutely gleeful. "Watch her work."

"Bokuto-san new plan of implementation, send the application for the project in first thing tomorrow morning. Mark it with urgent and for Hokage's eyes only." Aisa's smile was razor sharp. "Of course. You too." She took the phone away from her ear and tapped in a few more numbers.

"Isaahi-san send your petition in tomorrow morning, I have in good faith that the Hokage will be at his desk all day. Be sure to flag up how you were a former shinobi alright? Bye."

"Reitaka-san, your concerns about the funding for the civilian academies. Go insist on an audience with the Hokage tomorrow, after all you are one of his precious citizens too and you deserve a proper well thought out answer. Take care."

"Oh my Kami." Naruto's voice teetered on the edge of awed horror and incredulous glee.

Sasuke had to agree, this woman was a _monster._ Delaying the Lord Hokage himself by a good day or so by herself in a messy bun and coffee in her hands at four thirty in the morning.

Aisa tossed the phone to Sakura. "Well between the Hyuuga debacle and all of my clients I guarantee he'll have no time to pay attention to your cousin for at least another day."

"Than-" He started to choke out still overwhelmed at the woman's sheer daring when Aisa held up a hand.

"No thanks necessary." She spoke coolly. "Your cousin took in my daughter when I was away, my debt has been paid."

Sasuke's mouth snapped shut. He did not understand either mother or daughter.

…..#########################################################...

Obito was allowed a cell that let him see the moon.

It hung in the sky like a supernatural smile and if Obito was feeling sarcastic enough he could imagine the mocking laughter well enough.

All he could do was wait. Wait for an explanation or an audience with the Hokage. He had to know Obito better than this, the Hokage couldn't believe Obito would turn traitor to his village so easily could he?

He hadn't turned when Kakashi defected.

He hadn't turned when his family had.

So why would he turn now?

It was almost insulting the lack of faith in him. The manacles on his wrists clanked when he moved to a more comfortable position.

The sound of footsteps broke him out of his silent contemplation.

"Brooding doesn't suit you Obito." Rin's voice came from behind the bars to his cell. Barely believing his ears Obito pulled himself to his feet and walked over to the bars.

Rin looked the same as ever.

Alarm bells went off in his head. She was meant to be in custody but there wasn't a single chain or guard with her. He was taller than her and the look on his face staring down at her was enough to make her serious.

"Rin." Obito smiled slowly. "What a surprise. Why don't you be a doll and release your old team mate from these shackles?" He purred at her.

"You're under charges of being a traitor." Rin reminded him. "I can't do that."

Even after so many years Kakashi still got in between him and Rin in ways that even the genius could not have predicted.

"Traitor." Obito's smile slipped off his face. "I'm not the team mate you should be associating that word with, Rin-chan."

"Don't call me that." The woman told him voice hard, eyes like chips in her face.

"Call you what sweetheart?" Obito tilted his head. "If you can call me false names like traitor, I should at least be allowed to call you something that's true." He gripped the bars on either side of Rin's head and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I came to see how you were doing." Rin spoke sharply. "If you're going to be like this, I'll leave."

Obito smiled, held up his hands and moved back into the darkness of the cell.

"If you came to check up on me, you checked up on my team right?" He asked smoothly knowing that all that Rin could see was a dark silhouette. He carried on before Rin could answer. "But…of course not, you were in custody. How could you have checked up on a team? How can you check up on _me_?"

"I was released." Rin shrugged carelessly. "It was easy enough to prove I was loyal. Easier than some I can name." Her eyes found his in the dark.

His own eyes were bloody and despite seeing it so many times in combat Rin flinched back at the sheer malevolence glittering in the blood red eyes.

"Lie." Obito spoke mildly but his eyes grew more ferocious in spite of his tone. His oldest friend was lying to him when his life was on the line. It awoke an anger Obito locked deep inside him with a whisper of betrayal and injustice. "You were _sent_. Sent to see if I would disclose anything to my oldest _friend._"

"Obito I-" Rin started

"Leave Rin." Obito cut her off calmly eyes darkening to his normal black. "I don't want to look at you right now."

"Obito they'll kill you if they prove you're guilty!" Rin raised her voice, gripping the bars and shaking them.

"I'm not."

"In what way does that change my statement?" Rin asked furiously hair flying around her head. "You think you need to be guilty for them to prove you're guilty?"

"Leave Rin." Obito repeated, swinging his feet up on the steel frame bed.

After a few furious seconds of glaring Rin stepped away from the cell bars with a sigh.

"You fool." She whispered and stalked away slamming some door in the distance.

Obito's lips twisted into a smile.

And he waited.

…#########################################################...

To her credit Haruno Aisa didn't blink when she opened her door to Neji in full bulging Byakugan mode.

"Neji-kun." She greeted coolly. Then a few seconds later when Neji didn't move or say anything. "Can I help you?"

"The Hyuugas are going hunting." Neji declared. "I came to issue an invitation."

"What makes you think a civilian could help?" Aisa asked sounding genuinely interested in the answer and mocking at the same time.

"I can _see _your daughter and her team you realise?" Neji deadpanned.

"Hmm." Aisa muttered. "Useful. Come in then."

"No time. Tell them to come out." Neji countered.

Sasuke strolled up to the door having heard Neji from the living room.

"Time?" He asked raising an eyebrow. The sun was just breaking the horizon into flares of red and orange turning Neji's eyes a shade of burnished gold.

Naruto came up behind him looking alert after his fifth cup of coffee.

"Yes." Neji didn't blink, didn't give any indication he was speaking to anyone but Aisa. "We need to go tell Hinata-sama then leave for the forest."

"Hinata-san took command?" Sakura asked in confusion. Sasuke remembered the girl from the birthday parties; _that _was not a girl to go leaping for authority in a crisis.

"No." Neji sneered. "Her sensei came along and talked her into trying to be a leader. Essentially we listen to Hinata-sama with her father gone and she listens to Nohara-san."

What.

Three pairs of eyes snapped to Neji.

"_Rin._" Sasuke spoke dangerously. "Is with Hinata?"

If Rin wasn't in custody and she _wasn't _with Team 7 then it didn't bode well for them. Rin's priority should have been sensei less Team 7 rather than a student who didn't even want to seize power in her clan. She could have at least tried to give them some information on how Obito was doing.

Naruto caught Sasuke's elbow. "She might not have found us." He said simply. "What with how we were moving yesterday." It was Rin's only excuse and he knew that was what Rin would say to them regardless if it was true or false.

"What would happen if we skipped the telling Hinata part?" Sakura asked pulling on her sandals.

"Probably nothing." Neji shrugged. "But with her sensei there that probability fluctuates."

Sasuke found it very hard to imagine Hinata would activate Neji's seal over something this trivial. By the gleam in Neji's eyes, he knew it too.

"Straight to the forest it is then." Sasuke shrugged.

…################################################################...

The gate chunin didn't stop them seeing as Neji was with them. They walked under the magnificent trees where the sun had not reached yet and the birds had not woken yet.

"The other teams are searching the area further out." Neji explained as Sasuke spun his torch around looking for other teams. "They feel they have combed this place for all the clues it offers."

Finally they reached the tiny stream that trickled from under the wall of Konoha that led directly from the Hyuuga balcony. The ground near it was completely mud and stamped with numerous boots and tracks.

"Tch." Naruto gritted his teeth. "Not even an Inuzuka could pick up a track from here." Three powerful flashes of light scanned the area for any part of the mud that was undisturbed.

"I was knocked unconscious over there." Neji took Sakura's torch and lit up a tree a few hundred metres away.

"Maybe we don't need an Inuzuka." Sasuke spoke slowly as an idea formed in his head. "Everyone is going after the one who took Hanabi right? But we know there's another one and we have a sample of his _chakra_!"

"Chakra traces disappear following an exponential graph." Sakura shook her head taking her torch back. "Any trace will be practically gone now."

All four walked over silently, beams cutting bright slices out of the forest.

Naruto shone his torch at a dent in the ground where presumably Neji had collapsed. "You fell weirdly." He frowned kneeling and inspecting the dent. "Most people fall in the direction their leg was taken out of. You _spun._" He pointed at a circular scuff in the earth where Sasuke assumed Neji's heel had dug into and spun.

"Another thing." Sakura spoke slowly walking around and flashing her light at the trees. "There's virtually no line of sight to where Neji fell. A tree's usually always in the way and the shot was in the dark from outside your range right?" She asked Neji distractedly.

"Then maybe." Sasuke felt the rising excitement in his chest. "Your leg wasn't pushed to break with an arrow like jutsu. Maybe it was pulled by wire? That could break the leg if it's tight enough."

"I saw the jutsu coming too fast to stop." Neji's face was half hidden by shadows as he looked around for any footsteps.

"Genjutsu?" Naruto asked Sasuke quietly. "How does that show up on the Byakugan?"

"The Byakugan would see through any genjutsu." Sasuke answered in a whisper.

"What if it was just a random shot of chakra?" Sakura asked cutting into the conversation. "And not a jutsu at all? Another possibility is that it was a jutsu and it hit Neji so hard it forced him to spin."

"Either way." Sasuke shone his torch in the direction the jutsu was assumed to come from. "It had-"

He stopped himself short. Wait if the Hyuuga saw everything in a hundred metre radius while fighting there was no way they paid equal attention to all the space. They _didn't _have the brain capacity. It was impossible to fight an opponent, especially one more skilled, while paying attention to things outside the fight. It was incredibly likely that yes Neji's range was a few hundred metres but in a fight he narrowed it to a few metres at best just so save himself the threat of getting distracted by a random bird moving. That shot didn't have to come beyond a range of a few hundred metres, it only had to come from a range out of a few metres. That was _very_ possible in the forest.

"I have an idea." He said slowly and explained his brainwave. Neji looked disgruntled but didn't oppose the claim, he did snarl slightly at the implication Hyuugas weren't as brain capable as most people thought them to be.

"Umm." Sakura raised her hand slightly. "That tactic needs the second assailant to have a good familiarity with the Hyuuga kekkei genkei and habits in a fight. Because they were sure that Neji could not avoid the shot from that close range, it _wasn't _a kill shot."

"It all comes back to him doesn't it?" Naruto asked wearily after a tense silence hitting his torch against his forehead.

"Sakura." Sasuke asked. "That graph of yours. Was it exponential with respect to time or distance?"

Her eyes lit up with understanding. "Oh! If the shot was only a few metres away there may be enough traces for you to pick up."

"Distance then." Sasuke smirked and the world span into extreme detail. He could see a line of ants climbing up a tree trunk, the rotting fibres of leaves on the ground and every single splotch of colour and texture on twigs in the breeze. It was dizzying and he swayed for a second.

Sakura and Naruto looked normal to his senses but Neji's eyes lit up with a cold hard white light until it looked like that section of his face had been erased from the world.

There _was _a foreign chakra in the air. There was a line of chakra stretching from a point seven metres away straight to where Neji had said he had been like a line of spider silk. It faded near the end to almost invisibility but the colour near the other end was stronger and hinted of a pale silvery blue.

"He stood right here." Sasuke muttered walking around the area the chakra thread started.

He heard sharp breaths from the trio as they realised exactly how close Neji had come to the other Nin.

Tuning them out, he rebuilt the scenario from last night in his head behind closed eyelids.

It had been dark with Neji seven metres over there…another Nin near him and Sasuke/second Nin would have a perfect view of the Hyuuga. He raised his hand and in his mind's eye the Nin did the same. Sasuke's hand stopped at the height he threw kunai for the pin point accuracy needed to throw the jutsu over seven metres in the dark. So the point the chakra thread began was the man's kunai throwing height.

He opened his eyes feeling slightly disorientated at the different surroundings to what he had been imagining. Kunai's were thrown at eye level for maximum accuracy and technique.

"He's about this tall." Sasuke announced jumping up and marking a point in the air. "He didn't take to the trees to get away, he just…walked away afterwards."

The silver blue colour was the exact same colour that had sparked from Firudo's fingers when he had electrified the dust out of Zabuza's clone. This was confirmation that he was involved.

"It was Firudo." He spoke out loud and spied the victorious grin on Naruto's face.

"Kakashi?" Neji asked.

"Who knows?" Team 7 chorused.

With a spike of irritation Sasuke realised the man had already driven them up the wall with paranoia about who was who and he hadn't even been trying.

"So now where did he go?" Sakura asked softly switching her torch off as the morning light finally penetrated the forest cover. "Frankly speaking he and the kidnappers could be miles away by now."

Two other powerful beams switched off as Sasuke and Naruto followed her lead.

"You really think Firudo came anywhere near us and _left _without making a statement?" Naruto asked her dryly. "That was the only part of him that seemed genuine. That desire to see if we were good enough to entertain him."

"Think!" Neji barked suddenly. "If he's that kind of person he _must _have left you a clue. Did he say _anything_ that you found strange or that didn't make sense at the time?"

Sasuke thought back. All Firudo had talked to them about had been entertainment, manners, his brother and how he planned to mess with them. There had been _nothing _as a clue.

…Sakura hadn't asked about his brother. Maybe she had forgotten?

"No." He shook his head. "There was nothing."

"Tch." Neji turned away looking frustrated. Sasuke understood how he felt; having a name and a description and even people who knew the kidnapper but no lead on the kidnapper himself!

At that moment the forest seemed vast and endless with the possibilities of what had happened after Neji had been knocked out. Which way had he gone? Where had he gone? And most importantly of all, could they find him again?

….#######################################################...

"My friend!" Boomed a voice.

"Gai!" Obito leapt off his bed and was at the bars in a blink of an eye. "How is my team?"

"They are in fine form and fighting as hard as they can to buy you time my youthful friend." Gai beamed at Obito who felt some of the tension leave him. "My own student is with them and I'm afraid the Hyuuga second heiress has been kidnapped."

Obito nearly didn't notice the last part of the sentence. He immediately had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"I've known Sasuke and Naruto long enough to know they're wound up with that mess somehow." He spoke warily cataloguing Gai's reactions.

Gai cheerfully said nothing confirming Obito's suspicions.

"Will the Hokage be seeing me today?" Obito asked seeing as Gai wasn't talking. "This is ridiculous Gai! Firudo can't be Kakashi!" His grip tightened on the bars and his lips peeled back.

It was the reason why he had only shaken his head when they had told him Firudo had taken Kakashi's form. The reason why he didn't beg the Hokage for leave to hunt down the prodigy.

"Why?" Gai asked brows furrowed. "It certainly is possible he took a fake name and identity."

"No you don't understand Gai." Obito shook his head gesturing with his fingers. "Firudo can't be Kakashi. Kakashi _is dead._"

The spilling of that secret made his mouth feel cold and empty. It was one he had carried and buried deep in his mind and tried very hard to forget about it. So most of the time he fooled himself into thinking Kakashi was alive and talked like he still had plans to drag his team mate back to Konoha.

"What?" Gai asked too stunned to go higher than a soft shout.

"Kakashi is _dead _Gai." Obito slumped and sat down hard on his bed. "A few years after he defected I got his head in a box on my bed."

"His head." Gai repeated dumbly.

"Yes, his head." Obito sighed. "I never told anyone. I couldn't bring myself to."

Kakashi was the prodigy! Obito had had the shock of his life when he had opened that box. He had just sprawled on the floor all awkward teenage length and angles just staring at the gruesome contents of that box. It had been life making a mistake, Kakashi was far too good to die at the hands of some brutish nin but yet his head was _in that box._

He had come the closest to having a hysterical breakdown than he had ever done or would do.

"How did you know it was him? He always wore that mask."

Gai's voice interrupted his memories.

"His flesh where he had worn that mask had been removed Gai." Obito willed him to understand. "The rest was _identical._ And that hair Kami… was distinctive."

"Obito have you told them about that head?" Gai asked urgently. "That's proof you're innocent of that charge!"

"I didn't even tell Sensei." Obito laced his fingers behind his head. "They were still hurting. They had _hope _he would come back…I couldn't do that to them."

He had nearly had a panic when Rin had knocked on the door with the box still in front of his sprawled form. She couldn't see that! He had bundled it away and locked it away just as sensei took his refusal to let them in as a game and broke in himself. All that day he had panicked about people finding that box and accusing Obito of being in links with a missing nin in more and more outlandish scenarios. He had even hoped that if it was a dream he would wake up soon.

_Obito slammed the door shut relieved at the fact his apartment was dark and cool and that everything seemed to be in the right place. Getting rid of Rin and sensei without causing suspicion had been one of the hardest things he had done given that he wanted nothing more than to run back and check on that box._

_Shuffling upstairs he dropped parts of his ninja attire on the way and up the stairs until his armour and ninja packs littered his steps. Thank god he didn't live with his parents. Pulling the box from its hiding place he prised the lid open._

_It hadn't been a dream._

_Kakashi was dead._

_Their world really wasn't fair. Seizing the head by the hair he dragged it to eyelevel while screaming himself hoarse with accusations and obscenities. _

_The head just stared back, death locking it into Kakashi's perpetual bored expression._

_He had come so close to burning the thing that some of the boy's hair singed as he held it over an open Katon Jutsu._

_Finally he had released it and vowed to forget about it. Kakashi did not get the opportunity to make him sad or cry even as he died. He did not! He did not deserve it!_

"I planned on telling the Hokage when I had my audience with him." Obito explained that he hadn't been a total lunatic and completely forgotten something that could declare him as innocent. "I did _not _want to hand over my innocence card to some Nin when I don't know if they're my ally or not."

Gai's lips curved into a beam.

"Shall I retrieve that box for you?"

"Oh would you?" Obito asked with mock politeness and surprise. "It would be ever so helpful don't you think?"

The two men shared a conspiratorial grin.

**Leave a review on what you thought?**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy guys ****.**

"This is bullshit." Naruto declared after they had walked for miles in an ever growing spiral around the walls. "We're never going to find him this way!"

Sasuke growled verbally agreeing with Naruto and dropped onto a rock to pull a stone out of his sandal.

"New plan." He said gruffly. "If Firudo is here and none of the damn Hyuugas have spotted him yet then he must have gone inwards rather than outwards."

"Mind your tone." Neji told him Byakugan switched off to give his chakra reserves some relief.

Sakura stopped _dead._

"Please tell me what was you remembering some clue he told you." Naruto demanded crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well it's probably nothing." Sakura spoke slowly, "But when I first met him he was disguised as a civilian lawyer. If he didn't go outwards and if he needed a way to stop the Nin from pouncing on his henge he might have done it again?"

As one all four of them turned to stare at the Konohian walls.

"Well." Sasuke spoke. "It's not like we were getting anywhere here anyway." He stood up with a wince. "Might as well check that out."

"This is what happens when you arrest someone without proof." Naruto muttered vengefully. "You completely miss vital information and go off on a tangent. Obito could have picked up that chakra in seconds and recognised it as Kakashi's or if he didn't Sasuke would have recognised it as Firudo's and we'd have some confirmation if he is that damn white haired bastard or not. Obito also knew about Firudo's habits and could have told the ANBU so they were looking in the _right place at least._"

With a dark mutter he moved off with a purpose towards the village gates.

Sasuke agreed with him whole heartedly. The village had really screwed itself this time. What a pity that all of team 7 and their add-on were in no mind nor mood to spill.

"Your theory is more creditable if we consider that most of the Hyuuga are out of the village and there will be no one to pick up a ridiculously advanced chakra network in an apparent civilian." Neji tilted his head and Sasuke fought the urge to be startled at how far ahead the man had been planning.

"Not a bad thing we have you then." Sasuke spoke dryly and very quickly shone a torch in the direction of a disturbance. The light gleamed off the eyes of a dog and he relaxed.

"Paranoid are we?" Neji murmured in a way that made Sasuke want to hit him. "Stray dogs aren't suspicious Uchiha."

"I know that!" Sasuke snarled softly and carried on walking after him.

….###############################################################...

"I really don't like the fact we have to keep dodging Kurenai and Genma _and their goons_ every single time we decide to take a walk about in the village." Naruto grumbled ducking behind a shop door to avoid being seen by a military police. A smart application of henge later and a girl walked out from behind the door and raised her eyebrows at Neji and two other girls.

"They're at the tower, you don't have to worry for a bit." Neji rolled his eyes. "Do you know how weird it looks for a Hyuuga to be walking around with three civilians? Change."

One of the girls rippled into Tenten.

"Is she close?"

Neji didn't answer and instead was shaking his head at all the minor flaws he found in his team mate's profile.

"Now we just walk around Konoha and corner all the suspicious civilians." The other girl sighed.

"Joy."

By the time it was four in the afternoon the only suspicious people they had found had been an irritated nin undercover to spy on his girlfriend.

"Three o clock 32 metres." Neji muttered.

"No. Nin."

"Eight o clock. 102 metres."

"Nin."

"No one in this building but person 3 metres from the door."

"Nin."

Sasuke felt cold lightning strike through his body. That was not possible. Scrabbling at Neji he hissed under his breath.

"Eyes off. _Off._" He steered Neji in the direction that had given him the chills. "Is that not the dog we saw?" he breathed.

A little pug trotted down the street mud coating its paws and was heading for a little café.

"Guys?" Naruto asked cautiously. "You two look like you've realised something terrible."

"We were spied on in the forest." Sasuke breathed. "On the way back we saw a dog…"

"That _exact _dog?" Sakura asked sceptically.

"That's a Nin Dog." Neji confirmed numbly flicking his Byakugan on and off.

"_Shit._" Naruto stared after the steadily decreasing in size dog.

"Hold it!" Neji dragged Sasuke and Naruto back by the back of the shirt.

They had to stop it reporting back! Why was Neji stopping them? If any Nin found out they knew about Firudo but hadn't reported it…

"He's right!" Sakura cried. "Slow down! Look at the café!"

They did. It couldn't hurt.

A pretty blue and white café sat out over the pavement with little white tables and chairs outside a pair of great glass windows where a counter and more tables could be seen. It was completely packed and seemed popular. Sasuke counted the exits.

One.

Sasuke counted the number of tables that could be used as improvised weapons.

Three.

Sasuke counted the number of people with Ninja headbands.

Zero.

"And there's a person inside with abnormal chakra for a civilian." Neji hissed voice triumphant.

Of course it would be a café they found Firudo at. Sakura did let out a muffled giggle at the absurdity of it.

Sasuke straightened. "Hn. Success."

"You do _not _come in." Sakura hissed at Neji. "We don't need him to start hunting another person. Just tell us where he is."

"No. No." Naruto cut in. "Let him come. Just take a different table."

"Right a Hyuuga is going to sit down and have snacks while one of their heiresses' has been kidnapped." Sasuke pointed out dryly.

Neji ran a hand over his eyes. A circular dot appeared in the centre of each eye and suddenly when the Byakugan was deactivated he suddenly appeared to have small beady irises. He looked _entirely _different and not very Hyuuga like at all.

"Satisfied?" He snarked. "Table 7. I'll take table 4."

"Hmm." Naruto leant back to take a look at the dog who still had a few feet to go before he reached the entrance. "Excuse me."

He darted forward, smiled at a few passers-by and in a smooth move swept by the entrance ducking and picking up the dog in one movement. The dog made a woof of confusion after an impressive bout of coughing.

"Aren't you a cute dog?" Naruto in his girl henge smiled widely at the pug. There was an exceedingly nasty edge to that smile and the dog barked back weakly.

"What? You wanna go in there?" Naruto asked faking innocence when the dog tried to pull away. "Ok! Let's go find your owner! Guys there's this totally cute lost dog and we _have _to get it back to its owner!" Naruto called to Sakura and Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't help the indulgent smile. Take away the civilian slang and that had been what Naruto had been like before the massacre.

Sakura cooed at the pug who relaxed slightly. Thankfully Sasuke was already smiling so his added humour went unnoticed.

"Don't get used to dog napping." Sasuke scolded lightly playing a role he spun out in his head in seconds. He pushed open the door with the gentle tinkling of a bell and his eyes fell on Table 7.

A man sat at the table, all long limbs and taut tension. A shirt was rolled up to his sleeves and he was dressed in typical formal wear with the jacket draped over his chair. The dark hair and eyes in _that _face was very familiar though and Sasuke bitterly wondered why Firudo insisted on henging as someone who could pass for an Uchiha.

Firudo seemed to be more interested in his novel rather than his cold cup of tea and so didn't look up when Team 7 entered.

Team 7 dropped into the empty seats at Table 7.

Firudo looked up then mild annoyance at being interrupted written in every line of his face. It melted into a neutral mask when he spotted the dog and into downright intrigue as he presumably spotted the henge.

"Found something of yours." Naruto spoke politely setting the dog down on the table.

"Indeed." Firudo set the novel down and ran deft fingers down the dog's back. It sent him a baleful look and barked in what Sasuke considered an almost sarcastic tone. Then again it was a Nin Dog and it did probably think three civilian girls had managed to somehow get hold of him. "Where did you find Pakkun?"

They dropped their henges. Firudo's gentle smile shifted into something more predatory.

"You got careless Pakkun." He sent the pug an admonishing tug on the ear. The pug gaped at the trio and to their mild surprise hissed at them in a low lazy voice.

"You're the boy who saw me!"

"Careless." Firudo repeated mildly and leant forward to lean both elbows on the table. A sharp interest gleamed in his eyes and Sasuke did not know what to make of it.

The older Nin was slippery and dangerous. Hadn't he proved it when he had tricked all of them into believing he was an innocent civilian? But he knew if the man attacked they would stand no chance even in the heart of Konoha. What was the man thinking placing his own entertainment above his life? Why hadn't he run?

Firudo's mouth quirked into a wicked grin and a sheathed sabre clattered on the table between them. Sakura's breath drew in sharply.

"Relax kids." The Nin drawled. "I'll hear you out. You can hold on to that if it makes you feel any better. So…what can I do for you?"

He had handed over one of his weapons. Barely daring to believe it Sasuke reached out and pulled the sabre closer to their side so the man couldn't grab it and go back on his word. The sheer nonchalance of the man when he was sitting across the only three people in Konoha would could and had very good reason to expose him to ANBU was both admirable and irritating.

"You caused Obito-nii to be arrested." Naruto bit out keeping a very careful eye on the Nin's hands.

Neji strolled in at that moment and casually ordered cake at the counter.

"You kidnapped Hyuuga Hanabi." Sakura inputted voice hard and cold.

"And you _didn't _escape." Sasuke finished looking the man right in the eye.

"You really are an amusing team." Firudo murmured taking a sip of his stone cold tea. "You have so many good reasons not to trust me yet you come and dump my dog on my table and more _you come unarmed._" Disapproval shone for a second in those eyes. "Foolish move children." He didn't do anything but there was a shift in the air around him.

"We're not unarmed." Naruto hissed at him keeping his voice down to stop the civilians from eavesdropping. If the civilians had any idea of what was going on in their midst and with who they might have a riot.

"Unless you have ANBU backing you up you are _unarmed _Naruto-kun." Firudo shot him down effortlessly with a casual bored arrogance. "You have _no _idea what I'm willing or able to do."

"Same applies to you." Sasuke spoke up and Firudo was contemplative for a second.

"True." He allowed. "I did not expect you to hunt me out or be able to even if you wanted to. I'm not often impressed with empty headed genin so I'll answer one of your accusations. I had absolutely nothing to do with your sensei's arrest." He chuckled then got serious.

"I am insulted." He spoke slowly and clearly. "_Insulted _that you thought I had to resort to getting rid of your sensei to do my job."

All of their theories collapsed like a house of cards, each one falling with the weight and gravity of the knowledge that _they had been mistaken _and the village really thought Obito was a traitor without Firudo tricking them into it.

"Are you Kakashi Hatake?" Sakura cried, their last hope of proving Obito's innocence being exposed.

"Oh you mean the man whose appearance I stole?" Firudo asked casually. "Do you want me to be?"

Well that made no sense. Did that mean the village had been tricked the same as them into believing Firudo was Kakashi…but why would they think Obito was in cahoots with him.

"You _are._" Naruto spoke up suddenly. "Sakumo Hatake was the only known dog summoner, bounty of ten million at his height." He was flushed with victory of figuring out one of their most frustrating mysteries. "The dog contract is blood inherited only."

The sheath in Sasuke's hands turned uncomfortably warm and he stared at it in astonishment. What?

Firudo held up one finger. "Since you're woefully uneducated I'll enlighten you. One. Blood inheritance _doesn't _need a direct DNA connection. You just need to have a DNA link in the blood which can be done by some gruesome means, we're in public so I won't elaborate too much."

"Stop." Sasuke said. The light in Firudo's eyes was dangerous and because Sasuke had no wish to make him angry he continued hurriedly.

"If you're not Kakashi, how do you know Obito?"

"Do not mistake me for the same type as your sensei children." Firudo answered quietly. "You answer some of mine and I'll consider answering yours. Oh don't worry I know more about this village than you could hope to tell me."

"What?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man.

"What's your team number?" The man asked idly closing his eyes and focusing on a private thought.

"Seven." Sakura answered warily and Firudo let out a dry but delighted laugh.

"Of course."

"Did you help us back in Tanzaki Gai solely for information how to sneak into Konoha?" She asked sharply.

"Yes. No. Maybe I just felt like a challenge that day."

Sasuke couldn't tell if the man was lying or not and the back of his neck prickled with unease.

"Are you a Namikaze?" The man asked Naruto who blinked at him.

"Kamikaze? Why the hell would I be a kamikaze?"

The difference was subtle but the two words both of them had used had been different but only Firudo seemed to have realised this and obtained his answer.

"You won't trust me at all until I tell you my name huh?" Firudo asked rhetorically. Team 7 tensed even further, every single muscle ready to move in case the Nin tried anything. In contrast Firudo was loose and relaxed in his seat.

"I suppose it would be nice to have a sort of team again." The man mused and Sasuke's blood turned to fire.

"We are _not _your team." He snarled softly the sheath creaking under his grip.

"You're my old team mate's team." Kakashi murmured wickedly eyes flashing a freezing watery black. "That makes me practically your sensei's brother. I really have no intention of harming you based on that."

"You abandoned him!" Both Naruto and Sasuke shrieked at him. "You didn't see how much it broke him and how much it still hurts him to this day! You're no brother to him!"

"Team relationships don't make sense to others." Kakashi, no thinking of him as Firudo was easier, advised coolly. "Rin is my sister and Obito her brother, no matter how much he wanted it to be otherwise."

Their conversation petered out suddenly as Sasuke realised that they had been wrong and they were in front of one of the most dangerous men he had ever seen _alone._

"Obito's been arrested has he?" Firudo rocked back on his chair sounding darkly amused. "Shame. Still…"

"Still?" Naruto asked warily.

"I suppose I still have a few vestiges of fondness leftover for my old team mate." Firudo grinned and Sasuke dreaded to use the word but it was wolfish and he knew that it matched the real smile Kakashi would have under his mask. "I'll help you out this time. It's my duty after all."

"Duty?" Sakura asked almost incredulously. "After everything you're talking about duty?"

"Oh trust me, I know the nature of duty far more intimately than you." The Nin spoke almost too mildly.

"Why should we trust you?" Sasuke asked flatly. This was such a bad idea, Firudo had thoroughly played with them and had even expressed his interest in messing with them further. "What if you get bored and decide Obito dying amuses you more!"

"You're interesting." The Nin told him looking disturbingly like one of his relatives. "My job was over the _second _the Hyuuga girl was over the border."

And the smile on his face was more of a slash as the three pre-teens erupted.

"We can't believe a word you say!" Sakura shrieked. "You acted against Konoha, and you're a traitor!"

"Do you know what they'll do to her!?" Sasuke roared rare concern springing up from his hard heart.

"This is stupid." Naruto's cheeks were pale and a slow horror was dawning in his eyes. "_We _have kekkei genkei."

Dread slammed into Sasuke's stomach and Sakura looked ill. Was this a trap for the Sharingan? The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and one of the last Uchiha taken at the same time would be a serious blow to the village. Not to mention Sakura would be _dead_, Firudo had no use for her.

"Do you know what they do to traitors?" Firudo asked quietly, a question and a threat bundled up in one line. His dark eyes paled to a blue so cold they looked like sunshine through chips of clear ice. His hair was lengthening and paling, his bone structure was changing and finally the pupil in each eye winked out.

A Yamanaka stared back at them, young and with shadows under his eyes.

"Their minds are broken." Spite ran through every single syllable as all of Firudo's mannerisms disappeared from the man in front of them. "His eyes _will _be taken and gifted to the highest bidder."

A trimmed fingernail came up to tap Sasuke on the forehead. "And you'll have your cousin's knowledge shoved in here. And then finally he'll be hung in the main square as an example to all other traitors."

"Do you want that?" Firudo asked sarcastically. "I might be wrong but I did think you cared for your sensei."

Naruto's eyes were shiny like oil. And Firudo's words might be the lone spark that set the boy off.

Sasuke interrupted before that could happen. Kicking Naruto discreetly under the table he poked Sakura in the side to stop them from cutting him off.

It was simple. If they wanted to save Obito then they needed Firudo. But if they also didn't get Hanabi back then Neji would promptly rat them out and then all of them would be locked up.

What had Obito said once? When Kakashi had snapped he had killed everyone apart from Obito, it was _entirely _possible the man had a soft spot for his cousin. Sasuke was counting on that for this endeavour.

"Alright." He said slowly. They couldn't trust Firudo one bit but if he could be useful then they couldn't hesitate. "But I want some guarantee we can trust you."

Naruto sent him a wide eyed tight lipped stare.

"Such demanding kids." Firudo grouched. He seemed different when he wasn't telling them off for their manners or in full shinobi mode, he seemed far more…_indulgent._ Like a teacher. "What do you want?"

"Hanabi." Sasuke smiled tightly. "Your job is over. Help us get her back and we'll believe what you say."

A sharp gleam shone in the depths of the Yamanaka's eyes melting them into Firudo's own freezing black.

"You want me to go against my employer?" He asked flatly with a trace of amusement colouring his tone. "What will you give me for it? There's no love lost between me and the Hyuuga and I see no reason to do this for free as the Hyuuga princess' plight and Obito's plight aren't related in the slightest." He cocked his head and his Yamanaka visage immediately melted away. "Friends of yours?" He asked mildly as four Hyuuga entered the café.

"No." Sakura breathed as the four adults locked onto them and Neji.

"Hmm they want you anyway." Firudo didn't sound concerned at all. "A bit of advice kids."

His sudden menacing tone ran chills down their necks as he sipped his tea at their backs.

"Do _not _make it a habit of searching out missing nin alone." Firudo warned. "If I hadn't been me you would all be dead by now. _Think _before you act and Uchiha _sensei _won't get heartbroken at losing his team. _Again._"

He set his cup down with a clack.

The Hyuuga surrounded their table. Sasuke gritted his teeth. What were the Hyuuga _doing _here? They were seconds away from working out a deal to save both Obito and Hanabi! Couldn't they have interrupted a few minutes later? Why did they want Team 7 anyway?

"Gentlemen." Firudo purred. "Any reason you're crowding my table?"

"Hinata-sama has business with her cousin and his friends." One of them stated flatly. "You are to come with me at once." He directed at Team 7.

Why the hell did Hinata want them? Was this about not telling her before they went off and took Neji to do their own thing?

"Bye kids." The man at the table muttered wickedly, waving. It was very clear he was deriving a lot of amusement from their frustration and scenario.

"Unfortunately." Naruto spoke with narrowed eyes. "You may have forgotten _but _Hinata has no power over anyone not a Hyuuga. We're Uchiha wards and Sasuke's an _Uchiha._ Go take your commands and shove i-"

Neji was forced to his feet with a clatter of his chair falling to the floor.

"Shit." Sakura breathed. "If he gets in trouble…"

It would be their fault.

Naruto sighed sounding extremely irritated after dealing with Firudo and now the Hyuuga. "Fine! We're coming."

Firudo cheerfully waved at them as they were filed out. His sabre had been stolen back when Sasuke hadn't been paying attention.

…..######################################################...

"Rin." Sasuke greeted coldly.

"Sasuke." The woman smiled at him then ruffled Naruto's hair fondly. "Sure got lucky when Hinata issued the command to bring Neji and his friends in.

"Did she?" Naruto snarked. "Or did you talk her into it?"

Rin blinked at him. "It was Hinata's decision as Hyuuga head." She replied sounding mildly confused. "As Hiashi's still out it's her job now. I merely came to support my student."

"You should have told us about Obito first." Sasuke bit out folding his arms over his chest. "I thought we were more important to you than that."

Rin's smile froze. "Of course you are!" She spoke fiercely gripping both their shoulders. "I _tried _to look for you. You're my responsibility when Obito can't take care of you. That will _never _change."

There was sincerity in her voice and eyes. Sasuke believed her… but he couldn't trust her. Obito had given team 7 a direct order. _Never trust unknown variables. _That included Rin.

"You want to save Obito don't you?" Rin asked softly kneeling to their level this time including Sakura in the direction of her focus. "You probably haven't heard but the Hokage listens to any and all defences that are given by shinobi in shinobi trials. If you gave a statement then the charges of the endangering the kekkei genkei could be dropped. And he _wants _to listen to you to do the best job he can."

_Then we send someone they trust._

_Rin._

How could she lie to their faces?

Genin's words weren't admissible in court against or for their own sensei unless under very special circumstances. No matter what they said it would never drop a single charge.

Sasuke stepped back out of Rin's hold. Naruto followed face tight.

Sakura's mouth flickered with a very faint smile as Rin's eyes went wide.

"Is Neji going to be in trouble?" She asked politely.

"Depends on how severe Hinata sees his disobedience." She answered realising she had said something to alienate Sasuke and Naruto. She stood up and in an attempt to mend things invited them to be guests at the proceedings.

Hinata was a slender girl wrapped up in a fur lined coat with a heavy hood at her back. Her features were a softer variation on Neji's own with hair that looked almost blue in the sunlight and eyes like spilled milk.

Her mouth opened in surprise when Team 7 filed in to the clan grounds and took a seat at the side away from all the watching Hyuuga. Branch Hyuuga littered the field, old and young both in shinobi and normal garb. She was the _only _Main branch member there apart from a few stern looking women and men at the side under a shade.

Neji sent them an undecipherable stare then a motion that looked like he rolled his eyes but without irises they couldn't be sure.

"_Why _in Kami's name have you let non Hyuuga in here?" he asked tiredly. "Shall we sell tickets now for anyone in Konoha to come and watch?"

"We-we're not here to discuss my decision." Hinata stammered making an attempt to stand up straight. "We're here to discuss why you disregarded my order to tell me what and when you were doing things."

"It was stupid and it wasted time." Neji snapped. "Are we done?"

"It was an _order._" Hinata protested at her cousin taking a step forward. "I need to know what people are doing?"

"Why?" Neji challenged. "So you can be sure they aren't rebelling against you for being such a weak leader?"

Hinata set her jaw but she was trembling minutely all over with insecurity. Rin clapped a hand to her shoulder and whispered encouraging words in her ear.

"If you are to make your father proud you must prove you can be a good leader when he is gone." She murmured. "Would he have tolerated anyone, even direct family, disobeying his express command as Neji did yours?"

Poisonous words thought Sasuke. Words to twist Hinata's nature and make her _more _than she was but losing essential parts of her in the process. He gritted his jaw and watched Neji raise an eyebrow very unimpressed.

"Why is there a non-clan member leading the Hyuuga head how to run her own clan?" He asked politely but the barb hit Hinata like an arrow. She bit her lip and sent an unsure look at her sensei.

"My student values my _advice _Neji-kun." Rin murmured. "Please mind your own situation before worrying about your leader's."

"I will not accept any judgement from _you._" Neji had the audacity to sound _bored._ "When you stop putting words in my cousin's mouth then call for me again. I have a cousin to find." He half turned away. "I have no time to waste on weak leaders and farces of advisors."

"Neji-nii!" Hinata called out shocked. "Speak with more respect!"

Neji stopped. "Is that an order Hinata-sama?"

"Well no…"

Her cousin sent her such a withering look Hinata shrank back into herself.

"Hinata speak your mind." Rin spoke kindly. "You must have an opinion on how to deal with Neji's disrespect."

"Well." Hinata wet her lips nervously. "If-if you think you did the right thing, then prove it."

"We found a direct lead to Hanabi." Neji pointed out as if she was stupid. "Which was more than most ANBU managed and _you _dragged us _back. _Your sister could be _dying _and you're worried about me recruiting a team and going after her without telling you?" He let out a laugh. "You're more like your father than you think."

Neji was right. They had been seconds away from convincing Firudo to help them get Hanabi back when the Hyuuga idiots had stumbled on the scene. The frustration at that timing sapped at Sasuke's self-control sending dangerous thoughts flitting through the edge of his mind.

"Prove wh-what you're saying in an honour duel." Hinata stammered seemingly drawing strength from Rin's approving smile and her hand on her shoulder. "Only the leader of the branch family and the heir can hope to contest my decisions. That is the law."

"Bring them all on." Neji narrowed his eyes into dangerous slits.

"Beat all of the branch family minors and I'll acknowledge you as branch heir and forgive your disobedience." Hinata stammered.

Neji stared.

Team 7 stared.

Very slowly a faint curling grin spread across Neji's face.

"Well then. This changes things." Neji deactivated his Byakugan curiously in a rush of chakra. "Who's first?"

"Ayano." Hinata ordered.

"You are heir at the minute, will you let him take it away?" Rin asked the proud looking boy curiously.

The branch heir was a full five years older than Neji and expected to make Chunin in his next exams.

He settled into a perfect looking Jyuuken pose only for Neji to disappear from his spot using a speed that Sasuke had seen from Gai a few times in the past. He reappeared right in front of Ayano, drove the heel of his hand into the heir's nose, broke it with a crunch, kicked the boy in the stomach then in the broken nose respectively as the boy doubled over instinctively howling.

Sasuke fought not to stare. That had been a carefully crafted statement; with Neji not even using his Byakugan or Jyuuken signalled that the boy didn't even think Ayano was worthy enough or skilled enough to worth using them on. He resisted the urge to let a slasher smile leak across his face. This was going to be _good._ Maybe watching Neji beat up his family would relieve some of the frustration that all of Team 7 were feeling in their limbs.

"Next." Neji ordered coolly letting the defeated heir drop to the ground.

"Err." Hinata gaped before she caught herself at an admonishing look from Rin. "Hirako-"

"No!" Neji snapped. "All of them simultaneously." Now he activated his Byakugan causing the shift from terrifyingly casual to terrifyingly lethal. "Let me show you how much I outclass you by."

It would be a wonder if people could work out exactly who Neji directed that statement at.

"Very nice." Sakura murmured shielding her eyes from the sun.

The sudden flood of dislike towards Neji in the field was unmistakeable and about fifteen Hyuuga teens advanced at once, eyes glaring and in typical Jyuuken poses.

The first six all went down, their taijutsu inferior to Neji's. Then they got the bright idea of working together.

Most people forgot Neji too trained under Gai, the Taijutsu master of Konoha.

He kicked one of his cousins in the face and people promptly remembered. Neji flipped back on his hands, spun in the dirt and Jyuukened out with his feet hitting two teens in the stomach and causing them to cough out blood.

Prodigies didn't restrict themselves to one discipline.

"That's not the Hyuuga way!" One of them protested.

"Oh?" Neji asked mildly. "Is that what you'll say when an enemy pulls a move you didn't expect? You'll end up as a corpse in a ditch unless you abandon that thinking dear cousin."

He flipped another over his head and hit up the side of another causing her to sway and stumble.

"Fate is not kind to us." He spoke directly to his branch siblings. "Let's not test her patience more by refusing to adapt to whatever she throws at us. I did what I did to protect the family! The Hyuuga way isn't to be pure and untouchable with our style. It's to survive! Survive in anyway that we can because what are we but piles of blood and bone and valuable eyes?"

He spun out avoiding twin strikes and kept dodging and weaving and sometimes tricking them to hit each other instead of him.

"Shit." Sasuke muttered. Naruto let out a muffled nervous laugh.

"What?" Sakura asked confused at the sudden wariness and nervous glee on her team mate's faces.

"Umm we may have accidentally started the beginning of a power coup in the Hyuuga?" Naruto wrung his hands looking both hysterically about to cry and laugh.

"How did we _accidentally _do that?" Sakura's voice rose to a shriek but no one paid her much attention.

"We made Neji go directly against Hinata's decision." Sasuke kneaded his forehead. "Flouting her order. He refuses to show her any respect while she weakens her position by listening to her sensei. That's extremely dangerous for a clan head. And now he's demonstrating his strength by beating up everyone else. I bet you anything he is stronger than her and everyone knows it."

"Their fathers were _twins." _Naruto whispered in a hushed voice. "If the slightest whisper starts that the _wrong _twin was sealed and that _Neji _is the proper heir that could start a civil war in the Hyuuga and the seals wouldn't be able to subdue this one as it would look like a father protecting his weak children instead of upholding clan law."

Sakura's jaw flapped open. "You are _kidding._ Obito is going to _kill_ us."

"Yeah."

"For sure."

"Watch the council." Sasuke breathed in Sakura's ears as he returned his attention to the fight.

One sided massacre was more accurate.

Neji finished his remaining opponents in a brilliant move.

The familiar roaring spinning chakra exploded around him and threw the three remaining Hyuuga like rag dolls to the edge of the field. Neji span like a dancer to a stop white chakra thinning to a wisp around him.

"That's a Main branch technique!"

"How did he even learn it?"

"Oh my Kami, that boy is a genius."

Whispers sprang up around them from the shocked and awed Hyuuga. Hinata went as pale as her eyes and her lips were bloodless. Even Rin looked a bit wary of trying to exercise clan law on Neji when her own student's position was becoming more and more precarious.

"Would Hinata-sama like to test my conviction herself?" Neji asked casually beckoning to the girl. "I'm afraid your representors weren't quite up to the task of channelling your conviction that I was wrong."

Sasuke's teeth flashed. Hinata's position weakened now either way. If she refused it would be seen as her being a coward but if she fought Sasuke was nearly positive that she would lose and that would look terrible in front of the branch Hyuugas _and _the Council. And Neji had won the title of branch heir by defeating all the genin. At the minute with Neji's father's death the title had hung in limbo until Ayano (the grandson of the previous head) made Chunin. Neji had only taken back what his father had held in the first place. Not a single person could fault him for that.

Hinata remained silent a helpless look passing over her face.

Now could they _please _get back to what they were doing? Judgement had been passed. Hinata couldn't claim Neji had disobeyed her now (even if he had quite readily) because her challenge had been met and exceeded. It would look like she was trying to damn him out of spite.

"Neji-nii is branch heir." Hinata declared at last. Ayano's face spasmed but he accepted her decision. "His disobedience can be written off as urgency to find my sister. Di-Dismissed."

Sasuke had no doubt when the rest of the clan got back this story would circulate like wildfire.

"You have a plan to find Hanabi?" The girl asked urgently walking over to Neji seeming much more vulnerable when she shed her cloak of authority.

"Yes." Neji answered curtly.

"Can I help?" She asked desperately. "I haven't been able to do anything, I feel helpless."

"What?" Neji asked rather cruelly. "And mess it up like you messed up your chance to show you were a good leader for the Hyuuga clan. I don't think so. And the reason you feel helpless is because you _are. _Stay here and play at clans if you like, your father will have something to say to you when he gets back."

Hinata went even more bloodless than she already was and a look of hurt and horror crossed her face. Then she saw Naruto's slightly scornful look and she squeaked sounding mortified.

"Did I waste your time Naruto-san?" She squeaked.

"All of ours actually." Naruto answered dryly a bit more kindly than Neji. "Can we have your cousin back?"

This time the girl turned red. "Ye-yes of course."

"Come on." Neji ignored his cousin coolly and walked off. "If we're going to be taking Hanabi back and Firudo is the only option I might bring my team in. There's no way he's going to allow a bunch of adults to tag along but he might be softer on children."

Well Neji had turned out to be not so bad Sasuke admitted grudgingly. Maybe he could give the rest of Team 9 a chance.

"Wait." Sakura kept pace with them briskly on her shorter legs. "We _have _heard the order now. We can't pretend to ignore it anymore. Rin-san knows we know."

"Naruto." Sasuke spoke as they all kept walking straight out of the Hyuuga estate.

"What?" The blond asked surprised. "Why me?"

"Because for some reason the Hokage has a soft spot for you." Sasuke sent him a look and Naruto admitted that did seem to be the case.

Remembering how the man had slipped Sakura information on a card Sasuke checked his pockets in the hope Firudo had added something to let them continue the conversation. His left kunai pouch had a crunched up ball of paper and he spent half a second wondering how the hell Firudo had got that in there without Sasuke realising.

He smoothed it out.

"Is he really going to meet us on top of the Yondaime's head?" Sakura asked half in awe and half in disbelief. "Has he heard of subtlety?"

Why was it most of the adults they knew tended to be ballsy bastards?

**Aaaand Firudo's back! Leave a review on what you thought?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Enjoy the chapter guys ****. **

They saw the man before anything else. He stood on the very peak of the Yondaime's hair so that he looked out over the village, hair billowing in the wind. He cut a strange figure in his slender as sticks suit, dark hair and hands in pockets.

"I don't remember including a 'bring a guest' option on the paper." He drawled walking down to meet three much smaller figures. "Not very nice at all."

The absurdly dangerous man tipped the air above his head like he was tilting a hat.

"Still it would be even ruder to turn you back now." He mused.

"Would it be considered rude to kill me?" Neji asked a bit of humour leaking through.

"Are you going to try and kill me?" Firudo shrugged at him in answer. "As I have said many times before I try not to harm kids. Where did blondie go?"

"To give Obito a defence." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "Neji's here to help to get his cousin back."

"You know I haven't agreed to that yet." The man spoke mildly face indulgent as if waiting for a correct answer without telling them the question.

"Hello." Neji said. "I believe you broke my foot."

"Did you want an apology kid?" Firudo didn't sound at all sorry.

"What do you want in return for helping us get Hanabi back?" Sakura steered the conversation back on track.

That was a very dangerous question. Firudo could state almost anything.

"Don't ask open ended questions like that." Firudo growled at Sakura. "It gives me far too much power. I could ask for you to break the memorial stone and stick to my words if you phrase it like that."

Sakura went pale at the implications.

Firudo nodded slowly as he saw she had understood. "I'll forget that shall I? Try again."

Breathing in Sakura tried again. "What can we reasonably offer you that you would consider equivalent exchange for saving Hanabi?"

"Better." Firudo muttered. "Alright kids I'll help you on one condition. At the end of everything I will state one thing I want you to get for me. You _will _not refuse am I clear?"

"An object?" Sasuke clarified. The man inclined his head once.

"Is it anything that can cause harm to the village or citizens?" Neji asked sharply.

The smile Firudo was wearing was very indicative of his missing nin status. "Are you really in a position to refuse?" He purred voice a rumble in his chest.

Neji visibly bit back several answers.

"No." He grudgingly forced out.

"You're much better than these lot." Firudo turned amiable again. "Much more polite. Who's your sensei?"

"Gai." Neji answered shortly.

Firudo paused like a great cat coiling for a leap. "_Gai?_"

"You were his rival weren't you?" Sakura asked.

The man snorted mockingly. "Still am. Don't think that green fool ever replaced me judging by his personality."

"He hasn't." Neji's voice was acidic. "He seems much fonder of you than you are of _him._"

"Fool." Firudo repeated a minute trace of fondness in his tone, like one had when speaking of an amusing pet or the like. "We're wasting time." He spoke more sharply. "If we want to get the girl back we leave now."

"Now?" Sakura impressively managed not to squeak.

"Or were you hoping for some time to figure out a plan to keep yourselves safe from big bad me?" Firudo laughed at them. "Tough the play's careening straight to Act two, no time for breaks now."

Asking for help seemed like a _really _bad idea now.

"Can my team help?" Neji asked holding up the mission scroll. "We have a reason to be outside of the village and they're aware of most of the situation."

"Bring your team." Firudo allowed. "But then you go a different route."

Neji paused.

"I'll see you in my Byakugan?" He asked cautiously. Sasuke didn't blame him, and he wanted more Konoha nin near him in the off case Firudo decided to randomly change his mind.

"Yes you can keep an eye on them." The man sounded very amused.

Yes having Neji keep an eye on them was reassuring but if Firudo decided to do anything Neji wouldn't be able to react in time. They were essentially alone, Neji _didn't _know how fast the man was and with Firudo keeping an eye on them they wouldn't be able to tell him.

Sakura was pale in the corner of his eye and she flicked him a glance he didn't know how to decipher.

Hanabi was one of their own. A future Konoha Nin. It _was _their duty to do their best to protect her and that included semi trusting a very unpredictable man to do what he said he would do. He did blanch at the thought of leaving Naruto alone in Konoha with no backup without telling him though.

"Sakura." He tried _very _cautiously. Last time he had tried this she had hit him.

She shot him a disgusted look. "This again? I thought we talked this through."

"It's nothing against you!" Sasuke spoke slightly frantically, voice just a little higher than normal. "I just don't want to leave Naruto on his own without backup." Some of his worry bled through.

Her look softened minutely. "You're the one with the Kekkei genkei heading to the people who steal heirs with kekkei genkei." She pointed out like Sasuke was stupid. "Shouldn't I go instead? No loss if they catch me."

Fury ran hot and quick in his blood before forcibly subsiding. "Hanabi knows me." He bit out. "She's more likely to come with me than you especially if one of her kidnappers is there." He leant in a bit closer. "And when I get back we are having a _chat _on what you think your status in the team is. You are _not the disposable one. Am I clear?"_ He glared at her ferociously, some of his anger rising to the surface.

Sakura's eyes glinted with a cat like anger and he dearly wished she would not start an argument in front of the Missing Nin. Why did they always have to argue before long?

Luckily Team 7's kunoichi was smarter than that and with a very fake smile and hard eyes she nodded.

"I'm sorry." Sasuke whispered to her as a peace offering. And that apology when he had never apologised for the time in Tanzaki Gai got through to Sakura.

"Heh." She smiled grimly turning away. "It's getting better. You're trying to protect _him _not _me._"

"Sweet." Firudo spoke dryly.

"I know you don't trust him." Sasuke ignored Firudo still talking under his breath to Sakura. "But trust me at least. As soon as we get Hanabi back we can get Obito out. There is _nothing _that will stop me from doing that. I am entrusting Obito to you and Naruto until this is over. Do _not _let him die."

He stepped back. It was killing a part of him to leave Obito in a cell while he went and saved a Hyuuga but the girl was in far more danger than Obito at the moment.

Sakura didn't respond but her gaze was weighted and thoughtful. Ever so slightly she inclined her head again, almost a fraction of a nod but she had _agreed. _

Aw shit. He did not want to know what state his mind would be in after spending time alone with Firudo.

"Can you follow?" Firudo was asking Neji.

"Of course." Came the haughty answer. "I will be keeping a firm eye on you."

"Hmm if it helps you sleep at night." The man muttered idly patting the Hyuuga on the head.

"Are we leaving or what?" Sasuke asked abruptly crossing his arms over his chest.

"How do you feel about dogs?" The disguised man asked innocently.

…##################################################################...

"Naruto!" Obito gaped as his blond charge was dragged in kicking and yelling obscenities. He leapt from his bed at once and crossed to the bars where just beyond him Naruto was tossed albeit quite gently by nin standards inside.

"What are you doing here?" His brow creased with anger at the guards. "What the hell has my genin done that warrants a stay in the cells?"

They ignored him and stomped away.

"Naruto!" Obito turned on his genin who was wincing and leaping around the cell like a tree frog trying to find weak spots.

"Obito-nii!" Naruto stopped dead in mid air and bounded over to the bars. "Hey! We've been trying to get you out!"

"I heard." Obito murmured faintly quite horrified as his imagination ran away with him. _What _had his team _done?_

"Basically while you got arrested things got fucked up big time in the Hyuuga place." Naruto explained jumping up to grab the top of the bars and swung both feet into the metal rods with crashing sounds. "Let me out of here! I'm innocent of every charge!" He dropped back with a sigh and carried on talking like nothing had happened. "We ran into Firudo and he _is _Kakashi by the way, well when I say ran into I mean we actively hunted him down and after a lot of events. We got into a fight again and we may have started a coup in the Hyuuga accidentally so sorry about that. And Firudo and the guys trying to come up with a plan to prove your innocence and I was sent to talk to the Hokage since he seems to like me or something." Naruto shrugged not even out of breath.

Obito froze brain still trying to wrap around the sheer _torrent _of information.

"Firudo can't be Kakashi." He blurted focusing on that major alarm first. "And frankly speaking I don't really care about the Hyuuga at this minute. I will once I get out."

"He is." Naruto nodded seriously. "He's got the dog contract and everything."

"No Naruto." Obito ran a hand over his forehead wearily. "Kakashi's head is locked away in a box at home. He's _dead_. Has been for years."

Naruto stared at him.

"What do you mean we've been sharing living space with a disembodied head?" He asked eerily calmly.

"I never got around to telling you." Obito rushed to clarify. "What do you mean you're working with Firudo after the events in Tanzaki Gai? Have you all lost your minds?"

"I think that should have been mentioned at some point!" Naruto shrieked at Obito. "And it's the only way to save you." He protested sobering instantly. "Dammit! If he's not Kakashi then that makes no sense!"

"All I need is the head and a DNA test on that head and I'll be cleared of all charges." Obito spoke amused. "I'm not a damsel in distress Naruto, I don't need saving. I have plans too and Gai should be collecting that head for me right about now. Well just consider Firudo as a compulsive liar and save it at that."

Naruto coked his head and Obito felt a trill of discomfort.

"That's funny." Naruto spoke slowly. "Because I swore I heard him yelling about three times louder than usual at some ANBU recruits about how their springtime is full of weeds and how the shears has no mercy."

Obito cursed. They had stopped Gai from doing anything after they had their talk! And to keep an eye on him they had assigned him ANBU recruits, Gai must have been _pissed._ He needed a new plan to get that head.

"Don't worry Obito-nii." Naruto grinned. "I'll get that box for you."

"Those bars are unbreakable and the cell inescapable." Obito deadpanned. "If you think I can help you, you are mistaken. These cuffs block chakra."

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto sang and a clone appeared _outside _the cage. Obito shut up.

"And kawarimi." The two widely grinning Narutos traded places with each other. "Where is the head?" His blond genin made a face like he couldn't believe those words actually came out of his mouth.

Obito knew his genin were going to kill him when they found out where it was.

"The Jack in the Box on the mantelpiece." He muttered looking away.

Naruto went very quiet.

"You mean you turned the box containing your team mate's head into a Jack in the Box?" He asked softly. "Was the Jack we were laughing at the _actual head_?"

It was a ludicrous thing; the box was bright and painted on with cute designs and the Jack was a larger than life sized grinning skull with party glasses and a hat.

"Was that an _actual skull?"_ Naruto asked voice getting higher and higher.

"No! No!" Obito waved his hands. "Any ninja would be able to recognise a skull so I made the hollow skull we have now and sealed Kakashi's head inside it."

It was Obito's revenge on Kakashi. He enjoyed the abject humiliation Kakashi must have been feeling in the afterlife at knowing his head was used for a purpose like _that._ He sometimes lent it out to birthday parties just so the bastard would finally cause some happiness to other people.

Naruto's jaw opened and closed and he turned away looking like Obito had hit him in the face with a fish.

"I'll just go get a ruined piece of my childhood then." He wheezed finally. "Did you enjoy yourself saying you'd drag Kakashi back when his head was bouncing around our living room? On second thoughts _please _don't answer that."

Obito rolled his eyes lounging on the bars. Honestly his kids were so dramatic.

…..##########################################################...

Sasuke felt like his brain was going to be shaken out of his head.

True to form Firudo had decided to surprise him to _how _they were going to catch up to the kidnappers.

Currently Sasuke was in a sled holding to the front with a vice like grip and praying to Kami as a team of eight dogs practically flew through the Konoha forest causing the sled to pitch, buck and roll as if in the ocean. Once or twice they smashed right off a tree or two and he had nearly flown out (only Firudo's iron grip on his collar had prevented Sasuke from killing himself).

He had forgotten one thing. Two things really.

One. Those were Nin Dogs.

Two. Firudo was _insane._

The dogs took to the trees, their paws leaping from branch to branch with a nimbleness Sasuke could not appreciate at the minute. Now the sled rolled from side to side as a new dimension of moving opened up and Sasuke found his stomach rising and falling and they skimmed through the trees.

He had tried to make himself stay on the sled with chakra but a solid landing had sent spikes of agony up his ankles and legs and he hurriedly abandoned that.

Twigs scored across their bodies marking them with scratches and cuts, one got Sasuke particularly deep in the cheek but before he could try anything a green glowing finger had poked the wound and healed it back up.

"No leaving a trail for others to follow." Firudo glowered at him.

"How exactly are Neji and his team meant to follow?" Sasuke yelled back over the noise. Whispers in the back of his mind stated that Firudo never meant for Team 9 to follow and that Sasuke was a fool for practically handing the Sharingan over.

"Oh I lied about that." Said the man perfectly comfortably. Sasuke felt the first flash of fright.

"I left Pakkun with them instead." The man smirked at him correctly anticipating what his reaction had been. "Frankly I don't appreciate being spied on."

"Do you mind not looking like one of my family?" Sasuke asked irritated changing the subject quickly. "It's insulting."

Firudo sent him a patient look.

"I promise not to be sick in your sled." The boy tagged on impatiently.

"Of course Sasuke-kun." Firudo inclined his head tone pleasant. His henge fell away lightening the hair to a silvery white (or maybe that was a henge application?) and the black mask wrapped around his lower face. He was _such _an _odd _figure.

With a very odd fixation on manners.

The sled careened to an abrupt halt, the frame and people skidding a good part of an arc of a circle sending up leaves and dirt to stop fully. Firudo stepped out not a hair out of place (not that it was easy to tell) and started to fuss over his dogs.

Sasuke was starting to think he had imagined the chills he had got down his spine when the man had moved faster than he could see and trapped him in place with one hand.

"The Hyuuga patrol is near." Firudo told him unbuckling his panting dogs from the harness. "A sled would attract far too much attention in their eyes, we slip through on foot."

"You can't tell where?" Sasuke asked scanning the trees and forests ahead of him. Finding a way through the forest without showing up in one of the patrolling Hyuuga's eyes would be _very tricky._ It would lead to some very uncomfortable questions as well.

Firudo scoffed. "What have you learnt about psychological applications to strategy?"

Sasuke knew what each of those words meant. And he pieced together what Firudo was asking.

"Make people angry and they don't think as clearly."

"Fantastic." Firudo deadpanned. "Truly an observation a four year old would be able to tell me."

Sasuke scowled and crossed his arms. And tried again.

"Control is the key. If you make the other person lose their control you gain it."

"Better." The man allowed perching on a nearby rock, ankle drawn over one knee. He held up one finger. "Control. Where do you think the Hyuuga would spend their limited forces over such a large area to get maximum control as possible?"

Oh. That was clever. That was really clever. And then avoid the routes which seemed safest because the Hyuuga would have thought of that.

"This is a map of the nearby area." Firudo sketched a diagram into the earth and relaxed back sweeping a hand at it. "Give me your opinion."

Sasuke knelt over the map. First thing he checked was that it matched with a segment of a map he had seen once about the land surrounding Konoha. There were three rivers presumably getting bigger and bigger until they reached the Wave delta. The life blood of the Fire Country as they were. There was quite a bit of swamp land now with mangroves marked on the map with a key. The forest line gradually peetered out into flatland and fields before the borderline. There were seven little villages marked on the map, several bridges, landmarks and check points at the border.

"Assuming each Chunin only has a range of 600m." Sasuke spoke slowly. "And Jonin have ranges up to a kilometre. Then the Jonin would be placed evenly near the border to stop the kidnappers from going too far. A chunin near each village, bridge and evenly placed over the rivers but more gaps allowed there. Then a few independent teams going horizontally side to side to trap the kidnapper in the area."

"You're overestimating the Hyuuga numbers." Firudo drawled. "Remember they don't know which direction my colleague went in. They have a much, _much _bigger area to cover. And they're chasing _him _remember." He propped his chin on the back of his hand and kept silent after that.

"The water." Sasuke was hit by a flash of inspiration. "We already have border patrols! But the rivers and the mangroves can be water walked across without detection. There's just so _many _routes in the twisted mangroves they can't all be checked."

"But the Hyuuga when motivated can." Firudo nodded. "See how they don't do their best to help the collective village until one of their own is in danger? I very much suspect there are two or three Hyuuga still dotted in the forest just in case of the possibility the kidnapper didn't cross the border before them."

"Maximum coverage right." Sasuke muttered kneeling over the hasty map. "Here, here, here and here if we assume four people just to be safe. This covers most area. With three people here, here and here. Two here and here. One. Here. This path isn't covered by any of those possibilities." He traced a line down the dirt earth feeling wet and gritty to his finger tip.

"Psychology." Firudo's voice held a faint trace of amusement. "They're so desperate to be the most efficient that they can that they forget to be the most careful."

Sasuke let out a breath. He didn't know whether to be scornful for this oversight or grateful.

….############################################################...

"Your water walking is pitiful." Firudo spoke scornfully as he strolled across part of a mangrove swamp watching Sasuke jump from tree to tree not used to the sustained constant output needed for water walking.

There wasn't a sound to be heard in the area. Not a bird, not an insect not even ripples of water in the mind.

("That's a bit suspicious.")

("Not really. Tricky places like these are usually blanketed in silence seals _just _for the suspicious impression.")

"Can you tell me about why someone would want to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress?" Sasuke asked after an hour of silence. "They'd have to be mad."

"Will you tell me why Uchiha Itachi is a missing Nin?" Firudo asked rhetorically ripples spreading out from his footsteps. Black eyes (Obito's eyes were a very dark brown-black but Firudo's were a pure cold jet black and so had far more unnerving power than his cousin) met his in an idle challenge. Like the man knew Sasuke would never accept that deal but offered anyway to see Sasuke struggle internally with himself.

"You said you met him already." The boy pointed out harshly.

"Tell me when you're ready to exchange information." Firudo's eyes crinkled at the corners. Sasuke felt an irrational hatred for him in that instant, hot and fierce. But that might have been him projecting his hatred for Itachi on the nearest and most irritating person.

"Alright." Sasuke swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. "Who kidnapped the Hyuuga? _That _I do need to know for this to succeed."

Firudo tossed something at him. Something white and it span in the air like a discus, Sasuke caught it out of the air and was tired of being suspicious all the time. A very bored looking theatre mask stared back eye holes little black pits in the ceramic.

So it was an organisation then. Or at least an organised group of people. He turned it over in his hands; it was an incredibly smooth surface and Sasuke could see a distorted reflection of himself in the ceramic. He very much doubted a small group of people would give out masks to people they hired for one job. So either Firudo was a member or the group was _far _bigger than he had thought. He then had a thought about how many emotions there were and quickly terminated that line of thought.

"Their name in the underground channels is Chan'neru." Firudo spoke. "The emotion masks are the lowest level operatives and hired help. That is all I know." Sasuke thought he could hear a hint of frustrated longing in that bored directing of words.

"Chan'neru." Sasuke tested out the unfamiliar word. "How did they recruit you? I'm assuming they recruited you before we met you and that you were in Tanzaki Gai for the sole purposes of meeting a Konoha team but you _were _a Konoha Nin. Why did you need one?"

The answer came to him just after he asked the question. Firudo needed a Konoha team so Chan'neru wouldn't realise he was an ex Konoha nin himself. He probably had no need of them and just waited until he had an excuse to act.

"They operate at the highest level of secrecy." Firudo continued apparently understanding Sasuke had got his answer and didn't seem very interested in answering the other question. "I was approached by a man in an entirely blank mask, no eyeholes or anything, and offered this job. Their offer was intriguing so I accepted but from then on all correspondence was through nin animals not nin."

Sasuke had been wrong. Chan'neru meant channels. Horror and bile grew in the back of his throat; channels for information, for objects…maybe for abilities. It was an _auction house._ Hanabi was in an _auction house._ Every single fibre of pride he had _balked _at the thought of ever being sold as a slab of meat with particularly valuable eyes. And what was to say they would stop there…eyes were only one small part of a very complex system.

Sasuke had the other legendary Dojutsu and he knew exactly what terror the girl must have been feeling at that moment.

"We need to get her back!" He yelled jumping off the tree, skidding across the swampy water in a spray of mud and fluid and stopping before the paused Nin.

"If you want your friends to be able to catch up then we can't rush this part." The Nin stated flatly. "We're going over _water._ Pakkun won't be able to pick our trail up if we move too fast."

"Where _are _we going?" Sasuke pressed. There had to be a solution that let them move faster but still let Team 9 catch up.

"The island of the whirlpools." Firudo's eyes glittered. "Break _that_ news to your team mate lightly."

Sasuke felt a piercing injustice on behalf of Naruto. "They're using his ancestral island as an auction house!" He snarled.

"Auction. Slave labour. Drugs. Trafficking. Rare animal trade. All split up over the continents." Firudo counted off on his fingers sounding for all purposes that this was a perfectly normal conversation. "I'm sure there's so much more but that's all I picked up. And no Pakkun needs to take a specific route into the island which I'll calculate once we get there so we can't just leave a message and head off."

Frustration and helpless rage simmered in Sasuke's stomach turning it sour. There _had _to be a solution.

"You accepted a job to help those disgusting people!?" he snarled. Firudo sent him a cool look.

"Read what's on the Konoha mission roster before casting judgement on my job Sasuke-chan."

Sasuke sensed he had reached the end of Firudo's patience with him.

"How far to Uzio?" He muttered ungraciously.

"Across this stretch, across Wave then on the Bay of Eddies until we reach it. Not far. We'll get there tomorrow."

….##############################################################...

By the time they had crossed the Mangrove swamp and the border into Wave it was well into dusk.

"Have you thought about what the village _gains_ instead of loses when they lose one of the heiress to the Hyuuga?" Firudo asked out of the blue spark flying from his fingers to set the pile of wood ablaze.

What? What the village gained? But they lost a pair of unsealed Byakugan…that wasn't much of a gain at all. It also left Hinata to be leader of the Hyuuga and Sasuke thought she had quite a long way to go before she resembled anything near competent. Firudo couldn't be suggesting the village engineered this! Konoha was honour bound to protect its citizens, child nin even more so. The very thought was unthinkable that the village elders and the Hokage would order something like Hanabi being sold to an auction house.

But what he could see of Firudo's masked face was serious and a shadow fell over his dark eyes from his paler hair and he was completely _serious._ Sasuke took the question a lot more seriously.

What did the village gain?

The money for the transaction was an obvious benefit. Would they get more say in the internal affairs of the Hyuuga if the next leader was weak? No but that could have worked if Neji hadn't been on the scene as a serious contender for the main heir title. In fact the Hyuuga would lose faith in the security of the village…could they gain in the added security the Hyuuga would insist upon and pay out of their own pocket to be safe?

"Accusing power." Firudo interrupted his train of thought. "Think in that line."

Accusing power. The village must have had the thought before that lone missing nin must have been _mad _to try and kidnap the Hyuuga heiress. So that meant a suitably powerful organisation or a _village._ Konoha could accuse any village they wanted for any reason they wanted and since Konoha was the nice village, the truthful village, they would be believed. Sasuke's hands were shaking.

Every single major village apart from Mist could be accused to wanting the fearsome power of the Byakugan. Sasuke remembered how they had sent Momochi's head back to Mist and oh Kami that could have been a first move to ally Konoha and Mist closer together.

This could lead to _war._

"You got it huh. Why blame an auctioning third party when you can blame a major village and get the Hyuuga full support? Even if you told people what really happened I suspect you would be shut up in one way or another." Firudo sounded smugly weary. "There was a reason I defected after all. Konoha values life as much as the other villages…and it places a higher value on money and power. Your sensei served Konoha loyally for how long? And look where he is now."

"That's a lie." Sasuke breathed eyes wide and voice a whisper. "That can't be what they're planning."

"There are a _lot _of things about Konoha you don't know kid." Firudo laughed. "But I think you should know this one." He picked up a stick and drew the spiralling leaf in the dirt.

"The symbol on our headbands." Sasuke shrugged.

"Know where it came from?" Firudo asked lightly, kneeling by his drawing.

"A leaf from the great trees the Shodaime made." Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"What if I draw this next to it?" Firudo etched another design into the dirt. A spiral identical to the spiral in the leaf then the pattern deviated. He brought the stick down to a point from the spiral then curved it up to a point on the other side of the spiral then down halfway in a curved line so that t it nearly touched the spiral side.

Sasuke felt very cold. "That's the Uchiha seal. The third eye."

Firudo pointed the stick at him. "The name of the Leaf came from the Senju but the symbol came from the Uchiha. It was to honour freedom and the fact everyone under its symbol would be free and like a united clan. It was the same time as the Uchiha struck it off every member in honour of this promise."

"But we're not like that." Sasuke stared at the two symbols and felt like they were burning themselves into his brain. He had never known that. He should have known that. It was _his _heritage.

"We're all segregated and the Hyuuga! And Kami knows how many other clans have branch houses."

"The current leaders are hypocrites Sasuke." Firudo scuffed out the patterns with his foot. "But then again I _am _a missing nin. Are you going to believe a word I say?" He smiled at Sasuke under his mask and the smile wasn't a nice one. "I assume you are competent enough to set up your tent?"

Whistling the man walked off to find food and Sasuke was left staring at the dirt mind in a muddle.

…#################################################################...

Obito glanced up from his cell as a commotion again disturbed him.

"Oh." He sighed. "Am I going to see Sasuke next? You kids are making a bad pattern of this. How did you get in anyway?"

Sakura held out a plush toy with a completely straight face. "Well it seems you have friends in the gate shinobi who let me in. You have friends in the receptionists who ignored I was even there. And let's see let's not forget you have friends in the ANBU who practically led me where and stopped me from getting lost. And your personal guard accepted the excuse I wanted to give you a toy to sleep with and let me in."

Obito felt a grin crack his jaw joint. Good to know he still had friends even if they couldn't support him directly. He reached out and accepted the stitched shabby rabbit.

"I appreciate it." He said dryly tucking it into a side of his bed. "It really livens up the place."

It seemed just Kurenai and her squad had a _thing _against him. That made him feel much better.

"So what's happening?" Obito asked turning to face his kunoichi. "I talked to Naruto a while ago, is he alright? And Sasuke? He went off with Firudo didn't he the fool."

From what he had heard of the man from the trio he was torn between being achingly worried and fiercely angry at their rash decision. But he would wait until Sasuke got back (he _would _get back) to let it out.

"Naruto's fine." Sakura shook her head thoughtfully taking a seat on the floor. "He ran past me in the street and told me to come talk to you. Sasuke's not being as much of an idiot as he was on the mission and it's alright. Team 9 went after him as backup."

Obito's silence told her all she could have wanted to know what he thought about their chances of Firudo decided to get hostile. Her fingers twisted together nervously.

"I ran into Sarutobi sensei actually." She offered.

"Asuma?" Obito asked smiling lightly. "He's a good man. His taste in women is a bit odd though."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Kurenai." He elaborated.

"Ah." Both her eyebrows were high on her forehead now.

"He asked me to ask you for a joint training actually. I don't think he knows you've been arrested. So heads up, Ino talked my ear off about whatever test they had for the Chunin Exams. I assume they're exactly what it says on the tin?"

"Yup." Obito popped the p. "Hundreds of genin all duking it out for Chunin vests. Kami it takes me back." He groaned. "Yeah that's coming up isn't it? Crap." He ran a hand through his slightly greasy hair by now.

"Sakura _do not _enter the exams without me being there." He stressed gripping the bars. "Naruto and Sasuke may not have a choice but if you say no the entire team can't compete."

"I am not entering _anything._" Sakura waved her hands quickly. "Are you crazy? We barely survived our first C rank as genin, there is no way I'm trying for Chunin so fast!"

Oh thank Kami, he had a sensible person on his team. She would stop both of Sasuke and Naruto killing themselves due to their pride or curiosity. He let himself sag in relief.

"You know what?" He suggested half-heartedly. "When I get out of here, we can all take popcorn and laugh at the genin teams who took the exams _far _too early. Sound good?"

"Sounds good to me." Sakura beamed at him and Obito had the slight niggling feeling he was forgetting something.

**Leave a review on the way out? Tell me what you thought?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Uzumaki. When reading these next few chapters keep the genre and title in mind, they might be a little controversial without a little warning. Mostly the next chapter though. Enjoy guys ****.**

"Your friends have caught up." Firudo told him as he checked the harnesses of his infernal sled in the morning. "Roughly three miles away and closing fast."

"And let me guess we're rushing off again." Sasuke asked sourly watching him work on the silence seals. "Why don't you like people helping you?"

Firudo sent him a look. "Because they think they're clever and can help and usually end up being stupid and dying. You're tolerable; you don't trust me at all, that's smarter than most of the people I've worked with before."

Sasuke sent him a scathing glare and tried to locate Team 9. He couldn't, three miles was a bit far for him. It didn't help he was still confused about what Firudo had said about the village last night. He could see the coast line glittering in the morning sun like a line of diamonds on the horizon.

He had heard legends about the island of the Uzumaki. Naruto took great pleasure in hunting out the stories and regaling Sasuke with excited details whenever he could. Once or twice Obito shared a story or two from what he had heard from Naruto's mother.

Uzio had _not _been a nice place.

It was the oldest and most isolated of all the villages (it wasn't even really a village, it was more of one family sprawling out and building their own homes on the limited space.) One clan who ran the island for centuries, (Sasuke did not want to imagine the issues that messed up family would have.) And as if to best show their difference from the rest of the world the Uzumakis took their faith in a different direction.

The sea god and the death god were their gods of choice to worship. With the Uzumaki's almost complete wipe out most of the knowledge about their culture and life had been lost (Konoha only knew this much because a few Uzumakis had settled there back in the past.)

Even their names had been lost to history. Sasuke thought it quite a shame, his own family had stopped worshipping Amaterasu, Susano'o and Tsukuyomi as Konoha grew and the Kami sect expanded like a plague. He had seen an engraving of the three gods once when he was younger with eyes of precious stones that glinted in the light. He still had it tucked away under the frame of his bed. He was sure Naruto would appreciate it if Sasuke could bring one back for him.

"Is the island still in ruins?" Sasuke asked. "Or did Chan'neru fix it up?"

"It's in absolute shambles." Firudo answered idly. "No one knows what happened to it and the Uzumakis were seal masters. _No one _is going to risk losing their soul by accidentally setting off a defence mechanism. So they went under the ground instead."

"They could do that?" Sasuke asked startled.

"The last Uzumaki in Konoha before your team mate could forge her soul with her chakra and produce chains that couldn't be broken or escaped." Firudo's eyes glinted. "Manipulating the soul was a science that the Uzumakis had down to an art."

That must have been Naruto's mother.

"What was her name?" Sasuke asked softly.

"I think I'll leave that until your team mate asks me that himself." Firudo muttered. "It's a shame she died, I admired her very much." He straightened scratching a big dog behind the ears as he did so.

"Child birth we were told." Sasuke spoke feeling strangely generous.

"_Child birth_." The older man made the word sound like a curse. "As if a woman who was capable of fusing soul and chakra died of childbirth. Pah." He glared at Sasuke as if the boy had said something incredibly stupid.

He stalked off boots making heavy sounds as he boarded the sled and with a sharp hand gesture motioned for Sasuke to get on.

Gingerly Sasuke hopped on feeling the sled rock about as Firudo made no secret of his ire. Well Sasuke kept thinking sled, it felt more like a chariot and that Firudo was off to war with an intensity rivalling that of a forest fire.

…..##########################################################...

This time Sasuke came the closest to falling out that he had come all trip. The sled took a sudden left as the ground dipped, the sled arced and Sasuke was sent nearly flying over the dip and did teeter on the edge, the vast steep drop visible for a few breath taking seconds before Firudo caught his collar and used a kunai to pin him to the sled.

He felt like a child and glared at the man but didn't remove the kunai knowing that in all likeliness he would fall out again.

Wave had been a beautiful country and the nature still was, it was only the small towns that showed signs of poverty and destitution. Sasuke remembered Gato had had his fingers in Wave for quite some time and didn't doubt he had been draining the country of its money as fast as he could.

The ocean cut Wave into two parts. One attached to the mainland and one segment just barely attached with a few dangerous strips of land that got covered in the high tide. They needed to get to the island part of Wave to get to Uzio.

Luckily there was a bridge under construction connecting the two parts.

Their sled sped along the steel bridge, workers diving out of the way as Firudo leant slightly and warned Sasuke to hold on. Sasuke immediately grabbed at the side. If Firudo told him to hang on _now _then something was coming that his balance wouldn't like at all.

The dogs leapt into the air trying to bridge the gap between the two halves of the steel bridge and consequently it sent the sled _airborne._ Sasuke's stomach fled to his mouth and he felt oddly weightless before it slammed back down and nearly jolted his joints out of position.

He swore profusely and Firudo must have heard because he kicked Sasuke in the side hard enough to make it sore.

Sasuke bit his lip hard to prevent any caustic comments. He did _not _want to antagonise the man in a lethal vehicle.

Predictably now Firudo seemed to avoid forestation and stayed away from the forests on the island. They were smaller and denser than the forests in Konoha so there were vines and roots and leaves and branches everywhere and that would probably make travelling quite difficult whereas before they had just sailed on underneath the taller trees.

The line of the sea suddenly became visible as the slope of the ground reached its peak then dropped abruptly into crashing cliffs and breath-taking heights above the water. It was so intensely blue that it took Sasuke's words away.

Calm was not a word he'd associate with it.

It churned and it boiled and it crashed into white foam and leaping spray as the waves battered the base of the cliffs.

"Wow." He said slightly weakly. It reminded him of Naruto so much it was slightly frightening.

The island of Uzio was just visible as a slate grey and green dot on the horizon and Sasuke thought he could see the legendary whirlpools surrounding the island.

"Are we sledding across that?" Sasuke pointed at the violent water. The smell of damp dust filled the air and the sky did seem a bit darker than it had been over the main part of Wave.

"This is bad." Firudo muttered. "If there's a storm now we could get trapped on the island until it subsides."

Trapped on an island with soul stealing seals and an active auction house was not something Sasuke wanted to think about. But there was _no way_ Chan'neru would let themselves be trapped on an island with so much money at stake on their operations.

"Tunnel." Sasuke spoke up confidently. The entrance to the tunnel could be easily destroyed nearer the base and it just wasn't accessible so the entrance had to be up here. Firudo had brought them here on purpose. "You liar."

Firudo shrugged. "I take my entertainment where I can. Come on baby Uchiha, let's go get your cousin back."

He placed a hand on a random piece of rock and twisted.

A black circular hole opened in the ground looking very dark and uninviting. Sasuke peered down it and felt the indents of steep steps cut into the side of the rock. It was an invitation for a broken neck for anyone but a shinobi to even try to go down there.

"You're smaller, you can move better in the tighter space, you go first." Firudo suggested glancing at the hole.

Sasuke sent him a look.

"Come on. I brought you here in one piece and mostly unharmed." Firudo said dryly. "Sooner or later you're going to have to pretend to show me _some _measure of trust."

They could be Hanabi's only chance and they were wasting time arguing over their order Sasuke reminded himself before steeling himself mentally and lowering himself over the edge of the hole.

It was cold and dusty and immediately he had to close his eyes to stop them from stinging. He was entirely reliant on his fingers and feet finding the step to descend. Once he missed a step due to it being broken and his heart lurched in his chest before he caught himself again.

This was going to be a long climb then walk to the island.

…..#################################################################...

"I like visiting you this way far better." Naruto plopped himself in front of Obito's cell. "No one gives one if I walk in discreetly. This Cat ANBU even told me to tell you that he's rooting for you."

Obito laughed. Tenzou had a soft spot for all of his sempais and taichous from under ANBU. His mostly scandalous (often disastrous) and generally awesome ANBU record had been sealed from even most of the ANBU themselves. Only his direct subordinates and commanding officers remembered him now.

"I found the head wow was it disturbing." Naruto made a face. "Forensics is analysing it now. I remembered Ibiki-san owing you a favour so I cashed it in and Shika's dad kind of overheard and overruled me and so they're doing it for free and Ibiki-san still owes you a favour. I think he's a bit grumpy about that really. Ino's dad tried to get me to take a mountain of food for you so I brought your favourite. Chouji's dad I think hid weapons in most of them so to stop you from getting further charges of resisting arrest I fished them out. Enjoy. I may have missed some."

His blond student handed over several bound boxes and Obito accepted them happy to let Naruto keep talking.

"Sakura's gone to talk to Hinata, they were in the same class you know." Naruto peered at him and Obito confirmed that yes he did know and the boy continued. "And since we're helping them with getting Hanabi back the Hyuuga will be putting pressure on the Hokage to release you, well that's the preferred outcome but we're reasonably sure Hinata will cooperate."

"See the importance of making friends?" Obito flicked Naruto's nose idly. "You need to go and talk to your peers more."

"Bah." Naruto said at him. "Your mind's gone funny from staring at a wall for too long."

"Have you seen Rin?" Obito asked quietly swinging his raised knee from side to side as sensei and student sat on opposite side of the bars.

Naruto sobered immediately. "Yeah." He said strangely pensively. The look on his face told Obito what Rin had tried to do and he looked away.

"Team 7's trouble huh." The blond boy said in a whisper eyes fixed on the floor. "It's not just our generation."

"Oh dear Kami." Obito laughed in an attempt to cheer up Naruto. He didn't like seeing his genin sad.

"The Team 7 before mine were explosive experts, you can imagine the destruction! Then the one with the Sannin before them had issues bigger than the Hokage Mountain! But it's the only team whose alumni teach the next generation." Obito tapped out a pattern on the floor. "No matter what happens there is _always _a survivor to teach the next team 7. No other team can boast that, they all broke in the wars. One of you, Sakura or Sasuke is going to teach the next generation team 7 and that _will_ make you feel old." Obito howled with laughter at the face Naruto made.

It would be nice to still be alive then.

"We're survivors Naruto." Obito held out his fist and Naruto hesitantly tapped it. "And we're going to keep surviving for a very long time. I swear."

The sight of his genin's face lighting up made a warm feeling bloom in Obito's chest.

….###################################################################...

Sasuke pushed the stone lid to the side feeling the burn in his upper arms and shoulders. The sunlight that drifted in through the slight gap created by the lid moving was dark and the smell of a storm was heavy in the air.

He slipped through feeling his hair blow in the sea wind and took in the island.

And started to wonder what kind of apocalypse the Uzumakis had experienced.

The entire island had one structural building. An eerie spiralling house that seemed patched together and run down in places as if it had been stuffed full of something once upon a time. The spirals were wrapped together so tightly there barely seemed to be any space between them. Mosquitoes buzzed angrily in the air and he swatted one away still taking in the landscape. The house spiralled inwards and Sasuke was able to see through some gaps to get a hint of a well at the bottom of a waterless lake at the centre of the island. It sent the hair on the back of his neck crawling and set every single instinct screaming to danger. A run down lighthouse stood on a peak of the island light broken and dark as the stormy clouds above rolled in like a lid on a proverbial box.

Careful not to touch the sides of the building he squeezed through a gap to find the house entirely empty. It was just one long corridor spiralling in to the well. And if he closed his eyes the wind whistling through the house sounded like muffled screaming.

Firudo followed after him examining the marks on the walls that Sasuke hadn't noticed.

They made no sense, sometimes Sasuke saw a handprint, then the profile of a foot then indents of something sausage like and twisted until the wood curved slightly to imitate spaghetti.

"The air here is very unstable." Firudo spoke at last after examining the house to his leisure. "Try not to make any large gusts of wind. They tend to form miniature tornadoes."

"There's nothing left." Sasuke said slightly dazed. He had been expecting individual houses, rotting furniture, books, idols even cutlery. But Chan'neru hadn't touched a _thing _Firudo had said. "Not even corpses."

There was a distant rumble of thunder.

"We'd better get a move on." Firudo flicked a glance above cautiously.

"The well?"

"Are you stupid?" The man asked scathingly. "That's obviously the centre of whatever happened. Why would people even set one foot in a ten metre circle of it?"

The slight sound of rain hitting the roof hit their ears and now the island was at the centre of a storm cloud that had developed freakishly quickly.

"The lighthouse!" Sasuke hissed. "If they activate the light it acts as a signal."

"Far too visible to be discreet." Firudo spoke dryly. "But you're right for the wrong reasons, we are headed to the lighthouse."

Underneath their feet there was an underworld smuggling ring, auction house, trade and Kami knew what other activities. It didn't seem fitting that the top was empty and dead of life whereas the underground would probably be teeming.

"Don't they have security?" Sasuke whisper yelled after Firudo walking quickly to catch up.

"If you had a secret tunnel and convenient whirlpools and storms you wouldn't waste manpower on security." Firudo called back.

It was a reasonable statement Sasuke mulled. It didn't exactly put him at ease and the idea of eyes lurking on the seemingly abandoned island was a haunting one.

"You know what I said in the café?" Firudo spoke to him waiting for Sasuke to catch up on his shorter legs.

Sasuke nodded frowning.

"You _really_ should have listened_._" Firudo spoke with a light chuckle.

…..############################################################...

There was a man in a fear mask lounging at the base of the light house.

"Yo." Firudo sounded far too cheerful grip tight in Sasuke's hair. Sasuke struggled furiously twisting this way and that but the man's other hand was gripping both wrists behind his back.

"They fell for it." Sasuke's fury with himself ran cold and deep. How could he have been so stupid? Walking off alone with Firudo when he had helped to take the Byakugan from his former village? _He had helped sell Hanabi into a life of pain and slavery!_

All of Firudo's amiability fell away leaving the ice cold Nin Sasuke remembered from Tanzaki Gai.

The man in the fear mask chuckled and moved to grip Sasuke's chin so that he could see Sasuke's blazing eyes better.

Sasuke bit his hand.

He tasted blood before he was struck hard about the face making his vision go blurry at the corner.

"No damaging the assets." Firudo reminded. "His brother wielded one of the most powerful Sharingan I've ever seen. His cousin is no slouch either. His generation of Uchiha all had exceptional eyes so be careful with this one. He'll fetch billions."

The man in the fear mask made a grim chuckle before a strong hand wrapped around Sasuke's wrists and the other around his neck cutting off his air flow slightly. Firudo stepped back, Sasuke smashed his head against the man's chest and only got a headache for his trouble. He was _not going _to be a victim! He refused to be sold and dissected like an animal!

Godammit he had his pride!

"Anything you would recommend?" The second Nin asked lightly. "You've outdone yourself this time Firudo. A Byakugan _and _a Sharingan? I wouldn't be surprised if you got to state what happened to the boy afterwards."

Firudo inclined his head minutely stripping off his gloves. "Cut out his tongue. He knows far too much and would be disastrous if he talked to the wrong people."

A slight trill of fear joined the raging flood of desperate anger. He was not putting himself through their treatment of him! He struggled as hard as he could but Firudo's chakra coated his skin preventing his own chakra from being released from his blocked network.

"Where is the girl anyway?" Firudo asked scornfully. "Still crying?"

"She stopped a while ago." The man shrugged. "I think she got a bit scared by all the other assets in the holding bay."

The white haired nin just nodded and huffed slightly in mocking laughter. The man in the fear mask turned and walked towards the side door set into the building holding Sasuke like a naughty kitten.

"Thank you." Firudo's voice called after them.

"Huh?" The nin holding Sasuke only had time to get out before his head was diagonally sliced into pieces by one white slash.

Brain matter and fluid soaked down Sasuke's back and he froze bile rising to the back of his throat. Blood was sticky at his back and it permeated through is shirt to his skin and it was _warm _and felt very unpleasant. The white bone of the cut gleamed as the head bounced off the ground nose split in parts and flesh hanging off the cut.

"I'm being polite." Firudo answered politely and there was the rasp of a blade being sheathed. "You alright Sasuke?"

"Fine." He breathed feeling the brain squish under his feet as he tried to turn without stepping on any part of the corpse. There was someone's _brain fluid _on his skin. And those scrambled grey sick looking things were blood filmed brains.

Sasuke threw up slightly in his mouth choking at the same time.

"Easy." Firudo drew him away from the slaughter scene voice deep and soothing. "_Easy._"

"I'm fine." Sasuke managed breathlessly. "Seriously."

"Then we'll assume I'm conflicted by my murder of the man and stop for a few minutes until I regain my composure." Firudo ruffled his hair. Sasuke closed his eyes not wanting to feel grateful but not succeeding anyway.

"You bastard." He choked. "I thought you really-" He clapped a hand to his mouth.

"It wouldn't have appeared genuine otherwise." Firudo explained. "I needed him to turn his back on me and be unable to retaliate easily."

Did that honestly make up for the bone chilling thought that he wouldn't ever see his team or family again? Of course it didn't but Sasuke had no choice, _he _had made the decision to go with Firudo and he had to stick by it.

"We need to wait for your friends now anyway so take a few minutes." Firudo said not unkindly and went about removing the corpse and all evidence of the murder.

He was _very, very_ good at it.

The rain increased until it fell in steady sheets now drenching their clothes to their skin, sky dark and swirling around the centre of the island eerily following the shape and direction of the weird building. The slight wind on the island rippled the grass in strange patterns and Sasuke watched the abandoned island in a flash of light from a lightning strike.

Out of curiosity he flicked his Sharingan on the world spinning into extreme detail.

Watching the world through lenses of water and wind under a stormy sky on an apocalypse enduring island was chilling.

There was a sudden flash of white. As if all the colours had been erased or not coloured in by a lazy god.

Neji.

Sasuke snapped to his feet trying to identify the rest of Team 9. He waved knowing that the Hyuuga would see him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Suddenly Lee was _there _and Sasuke nearly yelped because shit: was all of Team 9 that _fast?_

"You are unharmed!" Lee lifted his arms by the wrists and patted him down checking for injury. "We had such doubts after we learnt you were to be travelling alone with such a strange man! Then Neji went _white _and ran off and we thought something had gone really wrong."

Sasuke snatched his wrists back and waved Lee back.

"I'm fine." He snapped ignoring the dull throb on his cheekbone.

So Neji had seen the scene at the light house. Shit, calming him down could take up valuable time.

Neji appeared over the curve of the hill followed by Tenten. The Hyuuga walked straight over to Sasuke, the white of his chakra glowing even fiercer and brighter as Neji's temper ran hot under the surface.

"He can be trusted can he?" Neji hissed venomously bending to Sasuke's ear height. "I'll be perfectly fine says one arrogant _Sasuke Uchiha!"_

"I don't think we have a choice now but to carry on." Sasuke whispered back letting some of his derision through. "Unless you think _now _is a good time and place to give up. She's in an auction house Hyuuga."

Neji's cheeks went pale and his lips bloodless. Despite his enmity for the main branch even _he _couldn't accept a fate such as that for his cousin.

"Would you stop having private conversations?" Tenten asked sounding exasperated. "We're on a mission, we _all _need to be kept in the loop." She glared at Neji who should have known better by now. She placed a hand on her hip, twin swords crossed over her back goggles covering her eyes and turned to Sasuke.

"They're using this island as a base for some very illegal operations including human slavery and auctioning." Sasuke told her blandly.

The kunoichi nodded sharply. "And where is Hanabi now?"

"The holding cells." Firudo spoke up from where he was lounging on a rock watching them interact. "Please talk away, I'm sure she has so much time to spare." His hand waved idly through the air.

Tenten sent him a hard look, Sasuke could actually begin to like this kunoichi instead of the girl she had been before. "Without necessary information we are doomed to fail Firudo-san." She spoke sharply. "Rushing now could be disastrous."

"It could also save the girl." Firudo returned mildly. "Being cautious all the time isn't always a good thing. And anyway from now on I'm not going to help you so I suppose you might as well take some time to plan."

"Why?" Sasuke asked feeling very tired. Had the Nin got bored of helping them already? Four genin against the might of hundreds of missing Nin did not sound good. Admittedly four genin and one missing nin against hundreds of missing nin didn't sound too good either.

"You haven't really done anything that warrants me to help you any further." Firudo pointed out like it was obvious. "I have no obligation _to _help you. I brought you here because frankly the idea you have that you can get away with this is adorable."

Firudo didn't get up from his rock but there was a definite air of glee to him. "This is the organisation that was perfectly agreeable to kidnapping a Hyuuga. You _cannot even _imagine the depths they sink to on this island and you want to go up against that. _Bravo _kids!" His eyes were unusually glittering under his mop of pale hair. "When four brats tell me they're willing to go to such lengths who am I to shut their spirits down? Now prove it. Prove your damn spirit and skills to _me _and I might be impressed enough to get you all off before it all goes to hell."

"You sir are a bastard." Lee stated frankly. "There are people put under these horrors and all you care about is whether we impress you or not."

The line of his shoulders was stiff and Sasuke could see that Lee's fists were clenched.

"I do not understand." The boy said slowly. "Why Gai sensei even considered you a rival. You are an insult to my sensei."

The rain suddenly turned ice cold on his skin. Sasuke felt a full body shiver pass through him both from the cold and the way Firudo didn't seem to care.

"I don't think three arrogant genin have any right in talking back to their betters." Firudo held up a finger to his mask and abruptly Lee's voice cut off as if sliced apart by a wind jutsu. "You're right I _don't _care, I am not a kind man. Nor am I a good one. But I _am _the man you went to for help so I suggest you bite back your thoughts and be respectful hmm?"

The four genin sent him distrustful stares, eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Holding cells." Sasuke said at last the drum of rain nearly drowning out the slick pump of his heartbeat in his neck. "Neji?"

The Hyuuga's white light if possible grew even brighter.

"See that spot." Neji pointed to a distant point and everyone paid attention. "Right underneath that are tons of chakra networks in a very organised fashion. Lattice shaped. Guessing those are the prisoners."

Sasuke suddenly realised that this could have been the fate of the children Gato had taken from their families.

"The ground isn't very solid." Lee said slowly raising a foot from the mud that was slowly enveloping their feet. "Tenten?"

The girl laughed short and sharp. "It'll be a pleasure. Direct me Neji, I need to be right over a blank space."

So they weren't bothering with a frontal assault and instead would sneak in directly to the holding cells itself. The only problem there would be would if there were guards (which they would be, it would be stupid not to.) Sasuke raised this point.

"You need a distraction." Sasuke argued. "Preferably in the same area as the break in so a good portion of their forces rush to the other side."

"Are you volunteering?" Neji asked flatly in a tone which implied he knew perfectly what Sasuke's answer was.

"This is madness Sasuke-kun." Lee told him quietly. "You have a valuable kekkei genkei yourself. If you are caught…"

"Then I _won't _get caught." Sasuke growled.

Tenten shot him a glance and shrugged off one of her pouches.

"Take it." He couldn't see her face well at all due to the light but her voice was fierce. "There's exploding tags and wire in there. Cause chaos and for Kami's sake _get back out._"

Sasuke tied the pouch around his waist nodding. Then he nodded once to his senpais, turned on his heel carving a hemisphere in the mud and walked over to the entrance Firudo was lounging next to like a pale haired wraith.

"My brother murdered every single Uchiha apart from me and Obito." Sasuke spoke blandly. This voice was good, it was disconnected and let none of his seething bitterness through. "He ran and was declared a missing Nin." He held out a hand. "Can I borrow your sabre?"

"You haven't told me anything new Sasuke-chan." Firudo admonished not moving a single inch. "Your brother told me so himself when I met him."

Sasuke's heartbeat skipped in both exultation and rage. The bastard was still alive. He couldn't be sure, missing Nin tended to drop off all radars.

"He told me killing my best friend was the key to ultimate power." The words dragged themselves out of Sasuke's throat like barbed wire. They weren't words he liked to think about really. He liked to think himself a better person than that.

Firudo's hands were beautifully made with tapering fingers and clean nails. They deposited the sabre in Sasuke's hands and lightly nudged his chin from where he had been inspecting the sheath.

"So it comes to Naruto or Sakura to take the fall for your ambition." The man spoke.

"No." Sasuke turned the sheath over dragging his eyes away from Firudo's too intelligent gaze. "Naruto is my _brother._"

"How cruel." Firudo chuckled and leant back against the lighthouse wall. "Enjoy this warning Sasuke-chan. Every time that blade is drawn it must draw blood in order to be sheathed again. Each time you pull the blade you are making a promise to _kill._"

Sasuke drew the mirror bright blade almost instantly and held it against the man's dip in the throat. It would be so easy to kill the man right there and then. He was missing Nin. He had hurt Obito _so _badly. He was a traitor to Konoha over and over, he deserved to die.

He had saved Sakura in the forest. Had saved all of them from Zabuza's clone. Was helping them rescue Hanabi (which didn't count as he had done that in the first place). He knew the secret to Naruto's parentage.

Firudo's hair cast a shadow over his eyes but Sasuke could _feel _them boring holes in his forehead.

Very slowly he removed the blade and let it rest by his side. Without saying a word he slipped into the lighthouse entrance sword drawn and alone. What would the Uzumaki gods have done about this?

**I don't know how many of you will get the reference but the scenery of Uzu is borrowed from Junji Ito's Uzumaki and it's utterly horrifying. It is slightly different as well so even if you know the canon it won't be the same curse here. Leave a review on what you thought?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Soo…I have a feeling this is going to be the controversial chapter…oh dear…oh well. All I'll say is read to the end and don't just stop half way through. Enjoy?**

Sasuke found himself in a luxurious greenhouse.

He found himself in a blooming greenhouse _under the ground._

He spent a few seconds trying to understand how that was even possible. Lush green plants and bright flowers waved gently in a cool breeze under artificial lights high in the cave ceiling. The plants certainly were pretty with small vivid red berries, purple flowers and strange leaves. A sickly sweet smell filled the area and Sasuke covered his nose with his sleeve.

Poison or drugs no doubt. The very smell was making him mildly sleepy. He recognised aconite and nightshade straight off and other poisonous plants native to Konoha. There were hundreds more he couldn't name or even recall uses of. Touching this green paradise would be _very _bad for him.

Hmm.

Plant matter.

Sasuke looked around. There wasn't anyone in hearing or in his sensing range.

He coughed fire into his fist and set a triple pointed leaved plant alight. He wasn't exactly sure what setting a greenhouse full of drugs and poison on fire would do but it should be spectacular.

The plant caught alight very quickly releasing a grey heavy smoke that Sasuke avoided like the plague. The flames crackled before moving on to the next few plants and he was sure before long the entire place would be on fire. Even if they put the fire out, the smoke would still be a major problem.

He ran silently through the rows of tenderly cared for plants searching for another door. Periodically he set more plants on fire, some dark part of him revelling in the sheer blaze this much fuel would cause.

Luckily he saw the men before they saw him. Sasuke ducked immediately using the plants as a cover like any graduated Konoha genin. They were _experts _in hiding in foliage. Their _village_ itselfwas an expert in it.

A man in a mask with steady eyes and a wobbly mouth rushed to try to save the plants. Another man in a mask with its black mouth open in surprise cursed and drew his mask over his face fingers making seals.

For a second his eyes had been covered by the enamel of the mask. That was all Sasuke needed.

Firudo's sabre flashed through the air and buried itself in a gleam of light deep in the man's head. He died instantly and silently and Sasuke pulled the wire the blade was attached to back mercilessly so that the man was pulled back and hit a tray of pots with a large crash.

The other nin span around, saw the dead man and like any colleague came over to investigate.

Sasuke gripped the sabre in his dominant hand, blood from the dead man's head soaking his knees and diluting in the rainwater still dripping off him. The man knelt to examine the body mere feet from Sasuke.

"Damn the gas got to you already?"

Sasuke couldn't believe his own luck. The kill shot had been covered by the man falling and the other one thought he had been knocked out by the gas. The grin that spread across his face was a terrible copy of Obito's own killer smile.

The man reached out a hand to shake the corpse awake when Sasuke struck. One slash cut the hand off at the wrist and in the same movement passed it to his non-dominant hand which promptly buried it in the man's eye slit in the mask.

Eyes weren't as hard as bone to penetrate but such was the quality of the sabre that Sasuke barely felt the difference.

The man collapsed as Sasuke withdrew the blade in a disgusting squelch. It was funny he had barely been bothered by Haku's death and not by these deaths either but had been affected by the man Firudo had killed. Perhaps it had to with whether he could see the wound or not Sasuke mused as he pulled the surprised mask off the man and fitted it to his face.

It was far too big and Sasuke had to use chakra to stick it to his face. Now at least he wouldn't be recognised.

Behind him a merry bonfire raged sending thick plumes of smoke into the air and Sasuke ran for it. If the man believed the smoke could knock out his colleague in a few seconds flat he was not sticking around.

He placed himself flat at the exit as the fire alarms went off blaring. On hearing one set of footsteps coming closer he leapt so that his fingers found and gripped the top of the door and he swung his feet straight into the face of the running woman. She was knocked out instantly and Sasuke dropped next to her sprawled body landing on bent knees.

Then he ran for it. Choosing left on a whim he scuttled along the ceiling employing the same trick Naruto had used in Tanzaki Gai. As a horde of Nin ran under him scarves around their masks he pressed himself against the ceiling and activated the trail of exploding tags he had been laying as he went along.

The ceiling collapsed immediately on the troop of Nin with an almighty crash of rock on rock and rock on flesh. The shaking of rock meant that Sasuke too lost his grip and fell lightly to his feet behind the quite surprised Nin and ran as quietly as he could around the next corner. He was sure he had injured quite a few of them, but it was a fact he hadn't killed all of them.

"What the hell?!" Sasuke heard a couple of voices approaching fast. "First a fire in the greenhouse then a tunnel collapses? What the fuck, we have intruders."

A deeper voice answered. "Then we should check on the assets kora, see if any escaped."

_Shit._ Team 9.

If he stepped out now they would realise instantly he was trying to hide something in the holding cells. Sasuke hit his head lightly against the rock as the voices got closer. Only thing he could do was pretend he was aiming for a different part of the operations. Hadn't Firudo mentioned more than one?

He took off in a blur right across the opening the two Nin were coming and knew they had seen him.

"A kid!" One of them snarled. "Who the fuck would send a kid _here_?"

"Maybe he got lost kora." Came an amused answer before their sounds vanished and Sasuke knew they were chasing him.

Sasuke skidded into a room where there was still construction going on with metal beams and wooden supports at the side. If he got out of sight then the Nin would think like any scared genin he had gone up the supports for maximum manoeuvrability. It was times like these he envied Naruto's physical henges, the boy had so much chakra he could actually take the shape of his henges something Sasuke had never been able to copy.

Or he could take a lesson from the Banchou and give up on sneakiness for a bit. With the borrowed sabre Sasuke slashed at a few joints and ropes holding the structure together. Cutting through a couple of base beams seemed to do the trick as the wood creaked and swayed alarmingly as he backed up warily.

With a curse the two Nin stopped right before the fifty feet beams fell with a smash and shattered bringing parts of the roof with them. Dust and rock flew everywhere as the crunching and banging went on collapsing the beams in a domino reaction and bringing the whole room into a very dangerous state of needing some serious support but not having any.

A few pebbles fell from the ceiling and bounced off the floor in light pings. There was a sound of rock rubbing against rock and a massive crack appeared in the ceiling as part of it slipped. Sasuke ran.

He regretted not checking where he ran as he skidded through a doorway and found himself surrounded by several furiously helpless construction workers. There were cups of sake and tea on the table so he guessed he had interrupted their break and completely ruined their work so far. There was an awful _smash _from the room behind him as the ceiling gave and shattered on the floor utterly making the room inhabitable and blocked off from the rest of the compound.

The men (he didn't think these were nin) were saying something but Sasuke was scrambling elegantly over the table as they tried to grab him and dove into the exit grabbing a chair on the way. He had noticed that the door opened outwards and slammed it shut jamming the chair under the handle.

The room he had found himself in seemed to be a storage idea for the construction men with tools, bundles of rope and very smelly paint. Grabbing a few heavy pots of paint Sasuke staggered over to the wall, Firudo's sabre cut a way through the rock (that was an alarmingly good blade) and Sasuke peeked through and after finding the corridor empty hopped through the hole. Alarms were going thick and heavy in the compound now and he could hear pounding in the corridors at either side of the one he was in.

Holding the sabre between his teeth he tipped the red paint on the floor so that it rolled slowly towards the end of the corridor. Nin tended to be pessimistic and have macabre imaginations all the time. Sasuke knew exactly what he would think if he knew there was an intruder leaving a trail of bodies and destruction loose and something runny and red came seeping out of a side passage. He grinned sharply as dark shadows blocked the light from both ends and blew fire.

The paint caught fire and blew down the corridor blocking the two sides in a curtain of fire. Sasuke rolled more paint down the corridor so that the rolling carpet of flames chased the Nin but both of them extinguished the fire in a bout of water jutsus causing the entire area to be covered in smoke.

Sasuke kawarimid with one of them and ran down the direction they had been coming in. Thank you Obito for teaching them to run away as he jumped off a wall and rolled between a Nin's legs to avoid a sweep of a flail.

Suddenly his brother's voice whispered in his head. _How easy would it be to blast a hole so the ocean rushed in? All your problems would be solved._

That was a terrible idea Sasuke decided after thinking about it. It would kill a lot of innocents and the Nin could all water walk anyway.

_They're on an island. _Itachi stated darkly in his head. _Don't you wonder what they're eating and drinking?_

That…wasn't a bad brainwave. But finding the kitchen could take some time.

There was a sigh and Sasuke blinked at the fact his mind was exasperated with himself. _That's what I get I suppose. This place has history. _Use _it._

There were four men in masks running to the commotion when Sasuke came through the wall with a few well-placed explosive tags. Remembering what Sakura and his brainwave had said about impressions Sasuke let his henge loose.

A figure calmly stepped out of the background of the fire he had set and the rubble of the wall, long bat like ears flattened against the head and a long ropy tail whipping around his knees. Demonic red eyes blazed out of a dirty surprised mask and with the final touch great falcon wings extended from both his shoulders. A bloody sword hung at his side.

The spiral of the blood haired Uzumakis burned proud on the armour on his chest and the demon opened its mouth in a voice like hot metal dipped in water.

"Take a moment to pray for your false gods. The sea will be your resting place tonight."

"You…kai?" One of them whispered blankly.

One of them appeared at his side so fast with a kunai headed for his kidney that Sasuke just had time to raise a block. Then watched in mild shock as the sabre didn't just block the kunai, it cut through the kunai, the man's fingers, palm and sliced the man's arm into two lengthways a fair way up his arm.

The blade now glowed _white _and warm under his fingers. Holy shit.

The man screamed. Sasuke didn't blame him one bit. His next cut took the man straight through the throat and the man dropped like a puppet. Sasuke wouldn't have stood a chance without the sabre.

_You're pretending to be a god. Human manners will not cut the impression you want._

Steeling himself for the bloodiest show yet Sasuke kneeled by the dead man jabbed the sabre in his eye and started to twist in an ever growing spiral turning the flesh on his face into mutilated shreds. Blood spurted like mini fountains out of the face splattering the mask and Sasuke's arms and similarly bile rose in the back of his throat but all he allowed out was some liquid like words he made up in the heat of the moment.

The three Nin backed off slightly a primal fear for Youkai welling up in their faces. Sasuke sighed, a light pressure on the neck with the sabre and a yank of his absolutely dripping fingers tore the head right off the spinal cord. It was just red water. And this was just a dummy. Nothing to get sick over.

There was a delighted laugh in his skull before the voice abruptly vanished.

He threw the mutilated head at their feet and rasped.

"Who's next?"

In an act that would having him bent over a sink for weeks in the future the demon raised his red hands to his mouth and licked a wet trail up his fingers and up the edge of his nail clearing it to the skin colour. _Red water. _

"Holy fuck it's the Uzumaki's revenge." One of them breathed faintly. "I _told _you this place was infected."

The fire was blazing behind them now and it made Sasuke a silhouette with nothing but demonic eyes.

"You know me at least." Sasuke growled. "That pleases me. Kill the other two and I'll spare you from the sea god's wrath."

The Nin turned on each other with horrible yelling. Desperation and horror tuned their every movement and Sasuke knew in a fair fight he would have lost ten thousand times over.

At last the spiritual man straightened with the heads of the other two locked in his fists. He sank into a kneel at Sasuke's feet on both knees.

"What next my lord?" He murmured reverently. Sasuke wasn't sure if he liked the fear or the hope tainting the reverence though.

"An offering has to be made." Sasuke hardly knew what he was saying anymore. The words seemed to echo in his head clearer than bells and Sasuke knew not to break the script or like a dream everything would be shattered.

"Separate their arms, legs and place the head in a slit in the stomach." Sasuke ordered. The man did so immediately with precise movements of a mass murderer. Something deep in Sasuke hummed in pleasure at this show of obedience. It scared him.

Under his orders the three men were positioned so that their torsos and heads formed the centre of a spiral and their limbs formed the arms with wire used to stitch their bodies together into a perfect circle.

"This place is an abomination." Sasuke declared throwing his head back. "It must be cleansed."

Seven masked people burst into the gruesome scene with to see the boy like demon splattered in blood and calmly surveying the monstrous creation on the ground.

"Orders my lord?" The nin asked respectfully. It seemed the show of religious violence and mercy had bought his loyalty completely.

"Surrender." Sasuke spoke flatly to the intruders. "Or I do to you what I did to these heathens _alive._"

"What are you?" One of them breathed.

Sasuke felt a very cold smile spread across his face and with a crack the bottom half of the mask dropped away revealing the ice cold smile and glowing red eyes.

"I am the god of the sea madam. It's my duty to send you to my colleague."

Two of the seven caved immediately into a one kneed bow, kunai grasped in the bow reserved for divine beings.

"What?" One of them hissed. "Traitors!"

"No." Came a reply. "You're not a sensor. There is no other explanation."

Sasuke gripped the sabre in one hand feeding his own chakra in the blade until the hilt and blade burned a furious white. Idly he brought it up in a swing, the chakra leaving the blade in an arcing white cut that took two of the standing nin in the chest and throat respectively.

They fell to their knees blood gushing and staining their armour bright red.

"Join me or die." Sasuke stated flatly.

"Never." The woman said fiercely but before the others could move the two kneeling nin had cut their Achilles tendons sending them crashing to the floor.

Two dead. Two under his command. Three taken out. Sasuke counted feeling oddly detached from the situation.

"Good choice." His first subordinate told the two newcomers. "He keeps his word."

Sasuke did keep his word.

"Impress me." He ordered coldly tossing a spool of wire at the two Nin who bowed their heads, the familiar flicker of bloodlust flaring into their faces.

Half a minute later Sasuke was standing in front of a living sculpture. The woman was spread-eagle with her comrades wrapped around her spines obviously broken. Her intestines had been pulled out and added to their curving bodies to create the spiral and if Sasuke could bring himself to care he would have been horrified.

"Bring them." The young boy ordered callously. "Time to let this island know one of its gods is back."

That was the danger of hiring missing Nin. The moment they found something better; money, blood, violence they defected.

All of his senses were working at maximum capacity, he could tell which was exceeding their limits and most of all there was a thrum of sadistic enjoyment running under the surface.

"Take me to the well." The boy ordered. His bloody eyes flashed.

….##################################################################...

"This is the experimental facility lord." One of the men told Sasuke as they passed through a laboratory.

This would have been where Hanabi's eyes would have been taken. Where _his _eyes would have been taken if Chan'neru had half the chance.

It was beautifully kept with shining tiles and clean instruments at the sides. Sasuke fingered a steel scalpel admiring the edge of the metal.

"Hey! You!" A masked person in a lab coat broke off from the curious gaggle of doctors to confront them. "What are you doing here! We don't allow prisoners to be taken through here."

"You heard them." Sasuke spoke casually to his henchmen. All three grins in response were _lethal._

The doctor's head rolled to a stop as Sasuke kicked it up to his grasp like ball.

All of the people in white lab coats drew some kind of weapon.

Sasuke cut through the chain swung at him with one slash of the white sabre. It crashed into the side of the lab breaking equipment and test tubes with a smash.

"I've changed my mind." Sasuke declared bored. "You're all skilled staff, help me and I'll spare you."

"If not?" One of them challenged. Sasuke crooked a finger and the two human sculptures were dragged in. Sasuke thought most of them went pale under their mask, no doubt they had such skill in medical jutsu such that even grievous body mutilation wouldn't kill them.

One of his henchmen hissed at the medics under his breath. "Sensors, really _look _at him."

The majority of eyes went wide through the masks but Sasuke didn't know why.

"No." Sasuke spoke again tapping his blood stained fingers against his lips. "I've changed my mind again. I'll take three of you." His heart was surprisingly calm in his chest, there was no adrenaline what so ever; for all intents and purposes he might have been talking a group of genin.

Without warning Sasuke threw one of the scalpels fully expecting it to get blocked but somehow the nin's block was too slow and it sunk blade first into his forehead and the second casualty went down.

There was one difference between these medic nin and his henchmen. His henchmen were far more used to killing than the medics. It was a slaughter however one particular medic stood out crippling her fellow medics with short neat jabs and letting the minions take the final kill.

"Stop." Sasuke ordered and the blade paused millimetres away from taking the interesting medic's head off.

"Thank you." The woman inclined her head.

"Why did you turn on your colleagues?" Sasuke asked mildly interested.

The woman smiled behind her mask, he could see in the way her eyes crinkled.

"Because I have eyes lord." She declared. "And _you _are something new."

Sasuke felt the faintest stirrings of confusion before it was dwarfed by an amused contempt.

The woman was delightful with her sadism. As a test Sasuke let her do what she wanted to the corpses of her fallen comrades. Even his henchmen went a little pale as she broke the bones in the legs numerous times so that they wrapped up the back in a monstrous parody of a spiralling shell. Wire sew the flesh together and she hung them from the ceiling by their arms and laid all their heads at Sasuke's feet. Blood dripped from the bodies (they were unrecognisable was human anymore) and the boy merely stared and smiled at the carnage his newest servant had unleashed.

"Take the heads." He ordered.

"Tell the relevant people. The intruder causing trouble has been found at the well."

…..###############################################################...

The boy stared at the well that rose imperially out of the lake bed that connected to the cave floor.

"Put them in." He breathed running deft fingers over the macabre carvings on the curved surface.

The two perfect circles of human bodies and the heads were tossed in unceremoniously.

"Get me an audience." The boy whispered and the four nin scattered like lightning.

Miraculously the woman was still alive.

"You're no god." She gasped out from inside the well. "You're just a better monster than the rest of us."

"Isn't that why I was worshipped?" Sasuke asked mildly. "I was more monstrous. I was more bloodthirsty. I was _more _than human. Get the idea of Kami out of your head, we are gods of the old pantheon; we _do not _forgive."

"You are _not _a god." The woman laughed. It was a terrible sound. "Gods don't exist. Not in this world."

"And you won't exist anymore in a bit." Sasuke stalked around the well. "Doesn't mean you didn't."

"They won't come." The woman gasped. "They're all too afraid."

"They will." Sasuke replied perfectly comfortably. "Can you breathe in there?" The rain was coming down hard in the lake bed and filling up the well but little holes at the sides stopped the well from becoming too full and drowning the woman.

The woman didn't answer and the pattering of rain was the only sound in the area.

"I've always wanted to know this." Came a voice from the well, weak from blood loss. "If you really are a god, what happened to your people?"

An immense sadness came over the boy at the question.

"Do not tempt monsters in their own door step." Sasuke spoke as if quoting something. "Katsu."

Exploding tags exploded with an immense crash, sending the lake bed crashing down into the cave floor and expanding the space so that it fully opened up to the eye of the storm swirling menacingly above. The edges of the spiral building could just be seen.

Sasuke was soaked to his skin and his hair plastered to his forehead as he laughed into the dark storm and the brief illuminations of lightning.

"I grow tired of this waiting game." The boy muttered suddenly. "They can all _die._ I don't care."

He placed one hand on the well and it burst into an ethereal green fire. The well roared with the fire which leapt higher and higher completely disregarding the water which should have doused it. It seethed around the well in a spiral before shooting off into the sky and hitting the eye of the storm point for point lighting the sky up with fire.

It was _glorious._

The storm cloud lit up as bright as the moon and carved a vivid, eerie green spiral in the sky with flashes of lightning connecting the clouds. The spiral of buildings caught fire from the well and raced outwards sending the wood up in green fire and smoke. The island must have been visible for _miles._

The woman screamed as she burned alive. The boy didn't seem to care with the ecstatic grin visible on his face as he stared at his handy work.

People spilled in all in masks, eyes wide and gleaming in the dark around the edges of the lake bed. The general feeling seemed to be fear shifting into macabre curiosity into awe.

There was more teeth than smile in the grin on the boy's face as red eyes surveyed them all.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"A manifestation of hundreds of years of worship, sacrifices, storms and witch fire." Sasuke shrugged modestly. "I prefer the term god." His voice turned smooth and ever so dark. "You are desecrating my last child's and all of my children's homeland. It is _done. _You have trampled all over their sacred halls and graves. It is _twice done._ You have spilled blood in these halls that are not yours to spill. It is _thrice done._"

"You have the Sharingan." Someone called out confidently. "You're an Uchiha."

"Can an Uchiha do this?" Sasuke asked seriously blowing from his palm as if breathing away dust. Behind them the jets of water from the well expanded, pushing well rock out of the way with so much force they reached the edge of the lake bed and smashed through the walls into the inner caves.

People cried out as the water level rose dramatically. The well continued to pour water like it had the weight of a lake behind it but the water itself was old and dirty and smelt musty.

"Lord!" Four of them cried falling to their knees and Sasuke cracked open an eyelid. The water swept harmlessly around them then rushed with a vengeance down the cave taking Nin and people and corpses with it.

There was screaming everywhere.

Drowned corpses littered the lakebed and more could be found as the boy walked on the water serenely stepping over people being forcibly dragged underwater.

It was fate really. By taking up residence on the Uzumaki Island Chan'neru too was fated to be wiped out in a single night.

Water rushed out of the cave walls with explosive force, weakening the structure and sweeping people, objects and bodies in vicious eddies that dragged them along rough walls. The water was tinged with the slightest shade of red.

Thunder _boomed _overhead like giant victory drums.

Green fire roared above the drowning masses.

And Sasuke caught sight of his too large pupils in the mirror bright edge of the sabre.

_What _was he doing?

Like waking up from a dream the horror of the situation slowly dawned on him. He looked around with wide eyes, self-hatred and disgust warring in the depths of his stomach.

More importantly _how _was he doing this?

Despite the abundance of water his mouth was dry. A chill ran down the back of his neck and back until he shivered all over.

_Ahh. _Said a voice in his head that sounded like his brother. _Don't fight heaven's net. Far less pain for both of us._

He had heard of gods of course and with a mounting terror remembered the lines he had read from his mind like an actor following a script. He hadn't been an actor; he had been a puppet.

There was a _god _in his head. Sasuke stuffed a fist in his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

_Don't worry._ Whispered his brother's voice. _As soon as I have my vengeance I will leave._

But Chan'neru hadn't been the ones to wipe out the Uzumakis had they? It seemed the god read his mind because there was a sad sighing sound in the recesses of his mind.

_This is not my vengeance on the despicable people misusing this island. This is my vengeance on the curse that wiped my children out. I will kill everyone on this island so it cannot. _That _is my vengeance child._

There are five of us Sasuke thought desperately. Can we leave? We won't come here again I swear for all of them.

_Very well. As gratitude for surrendering this body to me I grant you that. Now let me take control again._

There was cotton in his ears, eyes and mouth. Sasuke drifted in a day dreaming state while his mouth followed words that did not come from him.

There was a dizzying bolt of lightning too bright to look at directly that hit the water in front of the boy with an almighty boom, bathing the lake bed and deadly water with an impossible cold light. Maybe his ears had popped he didn't know.

Triple bolts of lightning crashed into the burning well causing the mortar to glow with an unearthly light. With ancient creaks the lake bed itself receded into the ground in segments (Sasuke stepped back) until a spiralling staircase that led deep, _deep _into the heart of the island opened up with a gust of freezing air.

All the hairs on Sasuke's arms stood up. There was something evil in that pit.

"It's noticed I've stolen its lunch." The boy spoke aloud with a sadistic enjoyment. "And it's _waking _up."

That was good? How was that _good_?

"Those friends of yours." Sasuke felt his mouth move against his will. "Tell them to leave the island _now. I _will keep you safe."

Control of his right arm returned to Sasuke who shook the cobwebs out of his brain with an alarming efficiency. He pulled a flare from his pocket, raised it high in the air and fired.

Red flare: Standard Konoha signal for 'everything fucked up beyond belief, run I'm dealing with this and I don't need casualties to distract me'. Ironically it was the blue flare that was 'come here _now_'.

It exploded in the air above the well like a bloody firework and he hoped beyond belief that team 9 ran. He didn't care about Firudo.

The water spouts died down from the well.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Then a column of buzzing, seething _black _erupted from the mouth of the well high into the air and turned on the boy standing unimpressed on the raging water.

Mosquitoes. Millions of them. They formed a cloud so thick it was utterly and completely black and the noise was nearly deafening. They surrounded Sasuke in an instant covering the boy in a dark cloud and sank into his skin.

The pain of having blood sucked by a million mosquitoes was surprisingly small. Sasuke cracked a glance down and blinked.

A pile of mosquitoes reached his knees. Dead mosquitoes. As he watched the insects drinking his blood just fell off bloated and stomachs bulging a translucent black red.

_Fool._ Came his brother's smug voice as if he couldn't resist showing off his cleverness. _The blood given to me far exceeds their appetites._

"Tell me curse." The boy spoke out loud, voice lost in the deafening buzz of feeding and dying mosquitoes. "Have you ever tried to eat witch fire?"

The fiery storm cloud got sucked into the well with the speed of a whirlpool. It reached from the sky in an arm of green and black and swirled into the mouth of the well with a rushing roar. The mosquitoes got dragged into the air currents and got dragged off seething angrily and ended up back in the well spiralling in amongst the fire, water and clouds.

"Have it all." Sasuke felt his mouth move.

With a crash and a smash the unstable air Firudo had warned Sasuke about sprang to life. A massive tornado started up around the well, obscuring the horizon and everything with blurry dust and wind. It whipped Sasuke's hair and clothes this way and that but the mask and grin remained firmly on his face.

It pulled the start of the wooden building off the ground easily as plucking a pin from a board and rushed screaming down the well bringing the wooden spiralling house with it. They smashed on contact with the well mouth but the burning building too flew down the insatiable mouth.

If Sasuke looked closely the well seemed to be glowing iridescent near the base of the deep, deep pit.

He had barely blinked when the well _spat _everything it had consumed out with a terrible screaming howl. Water, fire, earth, matter crushed to pin points in a roaring column of light that lit up the night and storm like it was in time of high sun.

It hit the cloud cover and smashed right through, looking like it had punched a hole in the heavens.

"Did I make you sick?" Sasuke asked mildly. "Did witch fire not agree with you?"

Four tornados broke off behind him and the four remaining survivors (his henchmen) were dragged screaming into the air and in the suddenly vacant well. They fell with a last scream of Lord but Sasuke ignored them.

There was a rumbling coming from the heart of the island. A terrible shaking that made the trees dance, Sasuke's bones rattle and his heart lurch from side to side. It deepened to a roar and the well started to suck wind like a monstrous mouth. It drew the water the god had called from nowhere, the rubble from the caves, the bodies _everything. _Everything got drawn and sucked into the giant whirlpool above the well's mouth and it greedily drank it all in.

_Had this _been the fate of the Uzumakis? Sasuke had run out of horror at this point and was feeling more awe and concern that his own footing would be disrupted.

_You know I think it would very much like to eat a god. _Itachi's voice rumbled in his mind. _Maybe it wants to be one. Who knows? Hold on host of mine._

The boy raised his hand, palm splayed long fingers trembling with some great exertion.

It got much darker.

It got much colder.

Sasuke looked up. And his jaw wouldn't flap open because the god had control of it.

The Bay of Eddies reached from the ocean like giant watery tentacles over the centre of the island. The massive, _massive _amount of water hung in the air blocking out light, sound and even heat. It was a jaw dropping sight.

"Keep eating." Sasuke said mildly and removed his hand. The tonnes and tonnes of water collapsed and it got pulled into the sucking wind until there was a heavy stream of water forcing its way down the well like a pitcher being upended into a bowl too small.

The well tried to spit it out and the water met the column of light in a crunching roaring mess scattering light and water everywhere but gravity of the water proved to be too much and the water again fell down the gullet of the well.

Sasuke shielded his eyes from the spraying water as the well shot beams of furious light through the water tornado lighting up the translucent water as if fire shone within. They impacted the cloud layer and spread like bright ripples in the storm clouds.

_Do you hear that music child? _Itachi whispered in his mind.

A strange keening of the wind had picked up now as it spun and vibrated around the force of the suction of the well and water. Along with the booming of the collisions it sent Sasuke's heart thumping and blood chilling.

_That's the sound my children heard before they died._

Am I going to die? Sasuke whispered mentally.

_Everyone dies child. At my hand no, here and now…I'll prevent that as much as possible._

How do you kill it? Sasuke asked.

There was a pause before Itachi replied sounding far more unsure than Sasuke had ever heard the voice.

_I do not know._

Sasuke had wanted a distraction. And the Uzumaki's god had come and arranged one for him in the middle of the bloodiest vendetta he had ever seen. Maybe he should be more careful before asking questions that concerned divine beings?

Didn't you have a counterpart? Sasuke asked the god as the well shone from within with the force it was using to try and spit the water back out.

_Death can cross over only at the cost of a soul. _The god answered. _A willing sacrifice._

Forget that then.

I have gods of my own. Sasuke spoke mental voice dissonant to the chaos and destruction surrounding him. Can't they help?

_Your gods have no place in this battle._

So his gods did exist. Looking at the struggle between water and light Sasuke suddenly had an idea.

Can't you freeze the water?

_I can shift the thermal energy of the water yes. _Itachi murmured. _But it has to pass through me and by extension you._

I can handle it Sasuke thought fiercely and felt his neck jerk in a nod. Then regretted it immediately as a searing agony ripped through his body. Pain like white hot pincers pricked underneath his skin straight at his muscle layer and directly into his nerves. Sasuke jerked but his body was under a god's control so he just succeeded in juddering around painfully in his position.

The palest slivers of ice gleamed in the middle of the rushing water. It connected the sky and the well like a fragile thread gleaming under the light from the well.

His blood was afire. His body was trying to shake itself apart from all the energy it had thrumming through it. The water in his body was boiling in his veins; that was an agony nothing could compare to.

A column of ice as thick as his wrist speared the well like a frozen lightning bolt. Light wrapped around it as the well desperately tried to throw it out and caused it to gleam like a lamp in the dark.

Sasuke burst into fire. The upper layer of his skin was burning and it seared through to his flesh, everything was burning. All he could see was the superheated air as it drifted off his body and the lick of orange at the corner of his eyes.

The pain wrenched Sasuke back into the forefront abruptly snapping the control the god had over his body. He doubled over shrieking as he _burned _alive. In stories he had read the pain always reached a crescendo before abruptly stopping. It didn't happen. It kept building and building as the god furiously kept his body in working condition by rebuilding nerves and burnt flesh and boiled blood and expelling the heat he was absorbing as fire. He was being remade from the inside out.

The ice was as thick as a tree trunk now and skimming the edge of the well sides. Water covered it like a thin film as light refracted through the ice throwing bright spots everywhere.

He just had to last for a bit more. There was absolutely no need to go overkill and coat the entire lake bed in ice.

The ice hit the sides of the well like a booming scraping bell. The bricks strained light flickering through the ice then all sound stopped.

The pain went away instantly, Sasuke dropped to his knees breathing raggedly. The rain still carried on though, plastering his clothes to his skin and washing away his blood and sweat. A magnificent column of jagged ice reached from the depths of the pit, up the well and into the sky high above the island gleaming from within by the helpless flashes of light the well sent. The extra water pooled into the depths of the pit and filled it up with a black water and Sasuke let himself be carried up by the rising water level as the lake filled itself with water covering the evil well and its secrets.

"Don't be offended." He spoke aloud staring at the spear of ice. "But get out of my head. Please."

There was a chuckle and his mind was clearer than it had been since he took on the distraction mission.

**Before I get loads of things saying how I've turned Sasuke into a gore knight, he was possessed by a very angry, dark god. Incredibly angry and so bitter he had no qualms in killing everyone. This is probably the goriest chapter I will write and trust me I took so many things out.**

**Leave a review on what you thought?**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

The events of the last hour or so were a blur in Sasuke's head. It was like he had done everything under a heavy dose of alcohol and there were ominous gaps in his memory from time to time.

He hadn't been an atheist. But he sure as well hadn't believed in gods. The stories were nice and all, but Sasuke hadn't seen any of the gods as worthy of being worshipped for what they were instead of what they could do.

Then one went and possessed him in a battle against an apocalyptic curse.

Sasuke's mouth opened then closed again.

He was never praying before combat again. Or asking rhetorical questions about gods.

He walked off the lake still in a bit of a daze.

He would deal with the god crisis later. First came Hanabi then came Obito.

A bright flare of blue light interrupted him from the lighthouse. It swept out over the island and the dark ocean blaring a royal blue light to anyone who cared to look. Spinning over the island it bathed everything in an underwater light (how on earth was the lighthouse standing when nearly everything else on the island had been destroyed?)

Those _idiots!_

Sasuke had told them to get far away! If they had got themselves killed Sasuke was not going to be responsible! He bit his lip drawing blood in an effort to control his rage and stalked towards the lighthouse trying not to slip on the mud and grass and water.

"YOU." Sasuke yelled as soon as he got close enough to see four figures peeking warily out of the stone tower.

"WHAT are you doing? I told you all to _run_ and did you think I did that for a joke!?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Something very green was hugging him and lifting him off the ground. "You're alive!"

"_Put_ me down." Sasuke hissed so lowly that Lee backed up a few paces. Sasuke filthy, drenched in water, sweat and blood and he was _not _in the mood for this.

Tenten looked like she had witnessed the dead coming back to life. "We asked you for a distraction Sasuke. Not flood everything and destroy the island!" Her eyes were wide and the corner of her mouth was unsure. "We thought you _died._"

"_What _happened?" It was more of a command than a question from the white lipped Hyuuga. A smaller female version of him held on to him with an iron grip.

Even Firudo looked a little rattled from where he was watching Sasuke with the intent of a hawk.

"First we get off this island." Sasuke replied adamant.

"Don't-" Three furious senpais started on him at once.

Sasuke bypassed them all.

"We _need _to get away." He spoke directly to Firudo letting his fear trickle into his tone. Icy black eyes blinked once before the man nodded.

Hanabi was smaller than he had thought and dirty. Her hair was uneven from kunai slashes and while her eyes were the palest shade of lavender Sasuke had ever seen with shadows like wrinkles in cotton and her mouth was a grim line.

"Hello cousin." Sasuke managed, not unkindly.

"Did you do all that?" She asked, voice still high with immaturity.

"Yes and no." He replied hurrying everyone to walk faster. Firudo sent him a measured look and broke into a gentle jog.

"What do you mean yes and no?" The girl snapped. "It's one or the other."

"Yes and no." Sasuke enjoyed the look of frustration across her face before he relented. "I'll explain once we're off."

"Sasuke-kun!" Lee entreated as he took broke into a trot. "Are we all in immediate danger?"

"Quite possibly now please _run._"

Everyone broke out into a sprint the eerie island playing on all of their nerves.

….###############################################################...

Sasuke hadn't noticed his death grip on the trusty sabre until Firudo held out a hand and an amused glance to the grip. Reluctantly he released it and the man wiped all the blood off the blade not saying a word on how dirty it was.

They were letting him take his time Sasuke realised with a small stab of confused gratitude. Even when they were dying for answers.

"Obviously you got Hanabi out." He started nodding at the girl. "The distraction however went a little off course as I got possessed by a god."

Neji's eyebrow reached new heights on his forehead.

"A god?" He asked with all the disbelief the word could possibly contain.

"It turns out while our gods are content with not interacting with us, the Uzumaki storm god decided a little vengeance was in order."

"Is that why you're covered in blood and your clothes are burnt and everything was in fire and flying off towards the well?" Firudo asked dryly.

"A curse wiped out the Uzumakis." Sasuke spoke slowly planning every word. "And it was waking up again with all the people on the island. What you saw was the god killing everyone so it couldn't. And forcing the curse back so it couldn't eat _me and it._"

Tenten shielded her eyes looking at the dark sky and water where the luminous column of ice shone rising high out of the centre of the island.

"We need to stop anyone from ever getting on to the island don't we?" She asked seriously. "That show could be seen for _miles._ I won't be surprised if all the major villages come to investigate."

"That curse is _evil._" Sasuke felt a chill on the back of his mind like the echo of the god's insecurity. "Or rather it just wants to eat and doesn't care what."

"A god!" Neji and Lee cried in unison. "They don't…they don't meddle with us!"

Neji activated his Byakugan and his sharp inhalation boded nothing good.

"What?" Sasuke asked sharply. Curious Hanabi followed suit.

"What is _that?_" The young girl asked shocked.

"Did you have your Sharingan active when you were possessed?" Neji asked too calmly. And by any chance did you go under any great stress and did the god heal you?"

"Yes when I got set on fire." Sasuke winced.

Neji was quiet tilting his head this way and that. "Your optic chakra channels have been fused into place." He said at last.

What. Did that mean he couldn't turn off his Sharingan? He tried and to his discomfort nothing happened.

"Do not force anything!" Lee's voice was unusually sharp. "If the channels have been fused, do _not _force them shut." The boy was frowning, a crease between his eyebrows.

Sasuke sent him a look. What gave him the right to tell Sasuke not to try and fix his kekkei genkei?

"My chakra channels are blocked." Lee shrugged. "I tried to force them when I was little, nearly ended up dying. You might lose your eyes if you try and force them."

Sasuke blinked. "Hold on you _can't _use chakra? How on earth did you-" That was incredible. To be able to make it as genin without most of their signature crafts was some incredible talent.

Lee smiled. "Chakra is not necessary to be a good ninja Sasuke-kun. I _will _succeed as a taijutsu specialist." A flicker of pride and fire lit up his eyes from the back.

"Island." Firudo reminded flatly dousing the fire immediately. "Admirable as your goals are, stopping a curse from rampaging across the mainland is the priority here. Also close your eyes Sasuke-kun. You want to save your chakra."

A bird screeched overheard as it swooped towards the grim island attracted by the light sparkling off the ice.

As it drew near a small tornado buffeted into life from the flap of its wings and the bird spiralled down caught in its fierce grip.

"As you said." Sasuke spoke feeling empty. "The air's unstable. Anyone getting close will be caught by the whirlpool or the tornados. It's practically cut off now. All we have to do is destroy the tunnel."

That was it. The last material trace of the Uzumakis had been destroyed now. The island was permanently cut off from anything. And if anyone ever got back there was just the hungry curse waiting for them, seething in the well.

Firudo knelt and placed his palm flat on the ground inches from the tunnel entrance. There was a slight rumble from beneath their feet then the earth _slid. _Team 9, Sasuke and Hanabi yelped slightly as the entire cliff dropped a few feet under their feet as the earth flooded into the tunnel and barricaded any access.

"All of you are clever kids right?" Firudo asked mildly straightening and summoning his dogs in one smooth movement. "You _know _what will happen if you admit you worked with a missing Nin."

Their careers would be ruined. If Firudo had been a missing Nin from any other village they could have got away with it but since he was from Konoha and instead of turning him in they had worked with him and let him go free at the end. All of them could easily be charged with low treason except for Hanabi.

Firudo's mouth thinned into a not quite smile behind the mask.

Sasuke had only been genin for a few weeks and already there was lying and plots and betrayal everywhere. Both he and Sakura would be in serious trouble if their association with Firudo ever came to the light, for Team 9 it would be disastrous as well.

"Hopefully by now you've started to think for yourself." The white haired man murmured. "Konoha is _not _the nice village you thought it to be. Criticise everything. Find the flaws because that is what they don't want you to see. Think _everything _though. And don't trust anyone fully brats, it'll only bring you pain in the end."

Sasuke in the strange mind set of wanting to prove Firudo wrong. He knew the man was wrong but he was able to find no counter to the calm logic and evidence he had seen while he was with the man.

"Konoha has done nothing to alienate us!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs and some of Sasuke's confusion dissipated.

Firudo let out a small puff of laughter. "Then why don't you ask your teammate about his father?"

Neji and Hanabi froze. With that one sentence the man had reduced the group of genin and below to tension wracked statues.

"Father?" Lee whispered facing Neji.

Neji's mouth moved minutely then he clamped his lips together. "It's not your business to go spilling my secrets." He sneered bitterness leaking into his tone. His grip tightened on Hanabi's shoulder. She didn't say a word.

"I apologise." Firudo said blandly setting up his sled. "But I thought Hyuuga prided themselves in seeing through to the bare truth."

"Do _not _twist my clan's words-!" Neji snarled eyes flashing like spilled oil.

"My sister was kidnapped when she was younger." Hanabi spoke up, voice quiet and small.

"Hanabi!" Neji's fury did nothing to deter the little girl.

"Father found her and killed the one responsible. Unfortunately it was a Kumo Nin and Kumo demanded compensation for the 'murder' of their own."

"My father was ordered to die." The female Hyuuga smiled a little sadly looking a little lost. "Father couldn't die. We _needed _him."

"That's enough Hanabi." Neji spoke roughly shaking her lightly by the shoulders. "Enough."

"Your fathers were twins." Sasuke spoke hollowly.

Very slowly Neji looked up. Byakugan into Sharingan. Rainbow to blood red.

It didn't need a genius to work out what had happened. Hiashi was alive. Hizashi was not.

What a cruel world.

The core of Neji's hate towards his family and main branch became crystal clear. That man had never expected Sasuke to go live with him after killing all of the Uchiha. It was a wonder Neji could keep it bottled up most of the time.

Tenten covered her mouth with her hand eyes softening.

"Maybe it'll be your uncle struck with the misfortune next time?" Firudo suggested wickedly, eyes dancing. "Maybe its fate Neji-kun that the Hyuuga are repeatedly blighted with misfortune."

"You take that back!" Hanabi shrieked at him. "My father has done a brilliant job!"

"Apart from ordering his own brother's death?" Firudo's eyes crinkled into a smile. "I wonder if you could condemn your sister to die in your place."

Hanabi went white.

"Then again you're all strong children right? Konoha breeds strength in its children." Firudo seemed to talk more to himself now "…such ridiculous strength that grows with fear. And then you forget…what it means to be scared. What a valuable warning it is. It's that fear that teaches you to get stronger instead of feel stronger and that is such a clear cut divide these days."

He snapped the last harness in place.

"Shall I give you a lift children?"

…..################################################################...

"I'm sorry." Came a growl from his feet when Sasuke took a break from the other members of his party by sitting on a log. He flicked a glance down.

The same pug from what felt like years ago sat inches from his feet looking at him with serious dark eyes. Sasuke looked evenly back inviting the dog to elaborate.

"I don't think he expected that to happen." The dog continued.

"And why does that matter?" Sasuke asked tiredly. "What does he care?"

The pug made an odd sound like it snorted. "Don't fool yourself kid. Kakashi's beyond most Jonin and as tricky as hell but he won't let his old team mate's kid die on him. In the tunnels beneath that island, you had an easier time taking on an organisation of missing Nin than you thought didn't you? At least until the god showed up."

Sasuke opened his mouth and leaned in closer.

"Go back to your master. Your mind games won't work on me."

The dog gazed at him mournfully.

"Tell me kid." Sasuke spared the dog an irritable glance. "Has Kakashi ever _hurt _you?"

Sasuke stopped dead. "That's not the point." He bit out though gritted teeth.

"Then what is?" The dog asked reasonably.

"He's hurt the village." Sasuke nodded sharply, glad to think of a counter to the dog. It was ridiculous, why was he arguing with a dog?

"You've hurt the village now." Pakkun said reasonably. "You're not going to report Kakashi at all are you?"

"What I am doing far outweighs what I have done." Sasuke hissed venomously. "Don't you _dare _paint me with the same brush."

Outrage simmered in the back of his throat turning his words sharp and jagged. However they seemed to have no effect on the infuriating dog. Then it whistled low and sharp.

"Dai-Inu they did a number on you."

The fact he was being accused of being weak to propaganda was by far the last straw. Sasuke was _not _stupid. He did not swallow everything that the village fed him with rosy cheeks and a tinted vision of how great his home was. To be accused of that by a _dog _was beyond insulting.

Seeing that Sasuke was no longer paying him any hint of attention the dog wandered back to Firudo who scratched him behind the ears. Master and dog were too alike Sasuke thought spitefully.

"_One day he came home to see his father commit suicide in front of him and he stood in that blood and he turned to his sensei and smiled and asked about dinner."_

No he wasn't curious. As an added bonus he told the mental voice to shut up. He wasn't listening to anything he hadn't worked out thoroughly at least three times beforehand again.

But he was fated not to have any peace as Neji knelt in front of him with a rustle of leaves. The Hyuuga didn't say anything and just waited as if expecting Sasuke to start the conversation.

"What?" Sasuke barked finally, irked.

"What are you thinking about?" Neji asked just as sharply.

"How annoying you are."

Was Obito alright? How much time did they have left? What was Naruto doing? What was Sakura doing? How would they react to the news of Uzu? Where were Firudo's hands? Were Lee and Tenten always a safe distance from the man? Would Obito forgive him for not telling him he had met Kakashi? (What the fuck happened on the island?) Would the Hyuuga situation turn disastrous? (Gods existed? How? What? Why?) Why was Obito arrested? _What _was happening in Konoha? How did they end up mixed in all this trickery and treachery?

"Seriously." Neji deadpanned.

"What's there to think about?" Sasuke asked. "Hanabi's fine. And Obito will be fine. There's _nothing _to worry about."

"That's all very good." Neji said. "But I didn't use the word 'worry'."

"I understood what you meant." Sasuke answered sourly. If the older boy started to treat him like a piece of glass he was _not _going to be happy.

Neji stopped and looked at him again as if searching for something.

"I'm used to my world view shattering." Sasuke said tiredly. "Now go away." He noticed Lee and Tenten sneaking him looks, Tenten far more sneakily than the boy while Hanabi kept her back turned to him at all times.

"For all that we believe in Fate the Hyuuga are atheists." Neji spoke quietly. "Even now I refuse to believe in them after one possessed you. I _refuse._ If you…want a place to get away you're welcome to mine."

Gods weren't the problem here. One lonely vengeful storm god was not evidence of a pantheon of them. It could be that it was just a vicious manifestation of souls and chakra deluding itself to be a god. In fact he far preferred that option. It explained why on the mainland there were absolutely no possessions but on an island _specialising in soul chakra _there was a ferociously bitter spirit running around.

So gods didn't exist. End of.

His mind slowly cleared from its fog of confused fright. The world was exactly the same as it had ever been. And now he had to focus on saving Obito.

"Are you even listening to me?" Neji asked incredulously as Sasuke stood up eyes not focused on the Hyuuga at all. "Uchiha!"

"Obito." He faced Firudo frankly from where the man was meditating in the lotus position.

The white haired man without opening his eyes pulled something from his pouch and threw it to Sasuke.

"Skeleton key. Opens any lock. Don't lose it."

The key was odd shaped to say the least. It was more of a twisted piece of metal with ridiculously sharp edges that cut Sasuke's fingers even as he held it. Now even if Obito couldn't be proved innocent then they had a way of stopping his execution. They couldn't kill a missing prisoner.

When it came down to Obito or the village his cousin would win every time. Delicately he dropped it into his pouch. This time it wasn't Firudo doing him a favour so he kept his mouth firmly shut. The corner of the man's mouth under the mask raised slightly.

Sasuke thinned his lips so that they formed a longer line than usual at the man and walked back to help set up camp.

…..###############################################################...

Obito looked up from his perch as Rin stormed in.

"What did you do?!" She shrieked at him to Obito's genuine surprise. What did Rin think he did from his cell? She flung a hand out in a sweeping movement.

"They're avoiding me!"

Obito blinked before grinning slowly. "My lovely kids right?"

"They won't talk to me." Rin hissed venomously gripping the bars until her knuckles went white. The look on her face reminded Obito of a rearing snake, sharp and deadly. "_I _just want the best for them."

"Are you saying _I _don't?" Obito asked pleasantly. Dangerously.

With a stabbing profanity Rin punched the brick wall next to the bars hard enough to chip out a fist shaped indent.

"Well you see Obito." She said mildly, tone utterly different to the violence she had exhibited. "You're not _there. _That makes it a bit difficult." Her voice grew in pitch and frustration as she talked.

"Do you think I would hurt them?" She snarled viciously turning narrowed eyes on the locked Jonin. "I have _seen _both of the boys grow up from childhood. _Naruto is sensei's son! _You _dare _think I would harm either of them!?"

"Caring for only half of a team is reason enough to keep you separate." Obito murmured.

"Half?" She whispered incredulously.

"You missed out me and Sakura." Obito shrugged. "In my opinion equally as important as the boys."

Rin looked like he had slapped her, her mouth moved but no words came out. She looked stunned beyond belief.

"Obito." She rasped at last. "Uchiha Obito." She gripped the bars with one of her hands but it trembled minutely. "You…think I don't care?"

"Why am I in here?!" Obito roared at her losing the grip on his temper. "Conspiring with Kakashi! How _can _you think believe that? If you really believed me innocent I would _not _be in here! You're a student of the fourth, _I _am a student of the fourth! I have bled and early died for the village a hundred times over! I am _owed _more than this dammit!"

He ran a hand over his developing stubble regretting his outburst immediately.

Rin shook her head staring right at him.

"I am here because I care." She spoke fiercely. "I don't _want _you to die Obito."

Obito laughed mirthlessly. "So you do believe I am guilty. It's only our friendship keeping you from wanting to kill me."

"No!"

"Then _why _have you not fought for me?" His voice was iron hard.

"There's no need to fight!" Rin screamed at him. "You fool!" Her hand snaked out and grabbed him by the collar pulling him harshly forward. Taken by surprise Obito's head smashed into the bars with a ringing noise, with a groan he collapsed rubbing his forehead staring in disbelief up at Rin.

"I can't believe you!" She shrieked. "At the end of this you'll see! See if I visit you again bastard!"

"Bitch!" He called after her hissing in pain. What just happened? Why was she so angry? Something didn't add up. His mind clocked into life examining the new puzzle piece Rin had given him.

She shoved her middle finger at him before slamming the door so hard his wooden plate rattled on the floor.

…############################################################...

"You can drop us off here." Tenten suggested. "I don't fancy going near Konoha in the sled drawn by you."

The dogs screeched to a halt, the slid curving in an arc as it skidded to a stop throwing up dirt and leaves. Sasuke's eyes snapped open as he grabbed the side to stop himself falling off. A carpet of silver blue twinkled at him.

"If you like." Firudo shrugged looping the reins around one hand. "Get off."

Sasuke tried to take a step forward but his feet seemed to be stuck fast to the sled floor. Neji's eyes flicked on instantly.

"The floor's covered in chakra!"

"I will escape!" Lee roared before straining tremendously to raise his foot even an inch.

"You bastard." Tenten hissed turning on Firudo who was leaning over the front of his sled admiring the view of the forest. He raised a finger to his lips and mockingly shushed her.

"It's the first time I've seen my home forests in such a light. Don't interrupt me sweetheart."

Hanabi was closest to Sasuke and now he watched with a little alarm as both Hyuuga froze in place by presumably the chakra locking their limbs into place. It made sense Firudo didn't want to deal with the Jyuuken disrupting his technique. He looked around and saw Lee and Tenten trapped in place too straining under imaginary bonds.

He raised his arms.

"Isn't that beautiful Sasuke-kun?" Firudo asked hair darkening, mask melting away until a completely different looking man stood in front of him.

"I can't appreciate the view when all I can see are your prisoners." He said shortly crossing his arms over his chest.

"Prisoners." The man murmured. "Hardly. I don't take prisoners." He straightened and strode in front of Tenten. Sasuke's blood slowed in his veins.

He honestly didn't know what the man was going to do. Was this a trick again? Or was it genuine? Dammit it had been _Firudo _who told him to keep his eyes closed and he had missed the setting of the trap in an effort to save his energy.

"Boo." The man said slapping a piece of paper over the girl's mouth.

What?

The boy in green tried to leap for the man but couldn't.

"Seal." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the offending piece of parchment.

"You know I _keep _warning you about this Sasuke-kun." Firudo sounded half annoyed and half amused. "You really don't listen."

He slapped papers on Tenten's fingers and repeated the process for Lee, Neji and Hanabi. They all looked furious and mildly frightened. Sasuke waited for the seal to be applied on him with a decent amount of self-anger and dread in general. However the older man just flicked him in the forehead and didn't do anything.

"Let's keep this between you and me hm." He winked at Sasuke who felt a rising horror in his stomach. The mouth and hands were both methods of communication-

Firudo snapped his fingers. The lines on the seal glowed a blinding blue before melting into Team 9 and Hanabi's skin. They didn't cry out but they did slump over unconscious to the floor. With his eyes Sasuke could see the network of silver blue lines working their way through flesh like a wire on a needle sewing their lips, tongue and fingers in strange patterns. His mouth went dry.

"Now." Firudo brushed his hands off against each other. "The nasty business is over with."

"What did you do?" Sasuke breathed staring at his comrades. Suddenly Sasuke was released from his hold and with a glare at Firudo he immediately rushed to check their pulses.

"You'll find out." Firudo spoke softly unwrapping the reins from his wrist. "Do you want a lift Sasuke?"

The choice of no honorific was deliberate. He was gently reminding Sasuke who was more powerful between them and that Sasuke really didn't have a choice with the man.

Sasuke pride gnashed at him. His common sense beat it down.

"Are they unharmed?" He asked slowly setting each of them into a sitting position. Their necks slumped strangely and he backed away cautiously.

"Perfectly." Firudo assured him breezily. "Are you wondering why I didn't do you?"

"No." Sasuke said. "You can't play with us if I can't tell them about you and get their minds in a knot."

The man threw his head back and laughed. It was a mirthful laugh and it would have been infectious if Sasuke had not been deathly aware of who was laughing it.

"Here's a little favour from me to you." Firudo chuckled. "Chan'neru? The Uzu Island was only one branch of the organisation. Try to stay off their radar as the boy who single handedly destroyed the auction house yes?"

He frankly didn't care at that minute.

"Yes, I would like that lift." Sasuke spoke coolly not responding to Firudo in the least. A weary sort of exhaustion trembled through his body.

….#################################################################...

"Entrance is just over there." Firudo nodded stopping the sled at a wary distance.

"Yes. Thank you." Sasuke snarked monotonously. "I didn't know where my own village's entrance was." His eyelids felt heavy from everything that had happened.

"I can easily apply the mouth seal to you and link it to your sarcasm." The man stated boredly. Sasuke sent him a sharp look. Firudo had mentioned knowing Naruto's mother…it was entirely possible the man knew how to carry out his threat. Resisting a yawn he blinked hard to get rid of the feeling.

Neji groaned from where he was slumped on the floor wearily shaking his head limply.

Firudo hit something with his foot and the entire sled tilted backwards suddenly pitching the unconscious pre-teens and Sasuke out with a yelp. He hit the dirt hard with his elbows and the sun blocked his view of Firudo in a circle of blinding light. His head was spinning now, vision blurring at the edges. _Bastard! He'd drugged him!_

"Pleasure to work with you." He heard the man utter casually. "Please don't make a habit of it. This is my last warning to you."

His upper arms were devoid of any energy. They gave away and Sasuke hit the back of his head hard off the ground. An instant headache blared through the point of impact, making his head heavy and hard to hold up.

A cool hand appeared in front of his face as Sasuke struggled to concentrate breathing raggedly. They plucked his headband from his forehead with long fingers and Firudo straightened in a blur of dark colours. His vision swam and his ears felt like they were filled with water.

"That's mine." He tried to speak but nothing came out.

"I'll take my payment and be on my way then Sasuke." Firudo's voice was accompanied by distant crunches of grass and a spiralling sense of vertigo. "Enjoy your 'concussion induced delusions.'"

Sasuke didn't need to see to know that a smirk cut the man's face in half.

Sasuke drowned into sleep eyes weighted down by heavy eyelids.

_Sasuke was in an old park overgrown with weeds and rusty equipment. A swing set swung idly even though the place was deserted._

"_Behind you!" Naruto's voice rang through the park and startled Sasuke did._

_Naruto wasn't there. But a boy was._

_A small eight year old. In a green coat and a black hat so dark and pointy it looked two dimensional. He smiled and Sasuke noticed his teeth were small and like a goose the boy had _lots _of them._

_There was something about that boy that whispered to Sasuke in a primal fear._

_Without shame Sasuke turned and ran. He jumped over the roundabout and off the cleaner grass into the wilder forest lining the park. He was barely paying attention when the dirt and grass under his feet changed to wire tangled marble and he went crashing painfully into the elaborate floor of a cosy house._

_He didn't recognise it but Sakura's voice was screaming on the radio. He threw it to the floor smashing it instantly. Something told him to look out of the window and to his shock the boy from earlier was skulking up the path in the shadows towards the bolted door._

"_You can't let him get in!" Obito rushed past him and wrenched the door open revealing the bars that stopped any progress. The boy's eyes snapped to his with a childlike curiosity._

"_Little Jin, you can't come in." His cousin said firmly and the boy took a small step back. Obito repeated it thrice more and the boy stepped back three more times. Sasuke opened his mouth to talk but Obito winked at him and disappeared._

_It felt like a really bad idea to let the boy come in through the door as he had started taking steps forward again. Sasuke took up the chant._

"_Little Jin you can't come in."_

"_Little Jin you can't come in."_

_Each time the boy stepped back there was a look of frustration on his face. Feeling victorious Sasuke said them louder and louder until he was yelling at the boy. He would force him to back out of the gate._

"_Little Jin you can't come in!"_

_Suddenly instead of stepping back the boy smiled and walked forward. Sasuke slammed the door shut as it heaved against the bars and door with a supernatural force._

"_What's going on?" He yelled. Why had it failed now?_

"_Did you say it twenty times in a row?" Firudo asked lounging at the table utterly nonchalant. "It fails when you do that."_

_The door buckled behind Sasuke and fear lodged in his throat._

"_How do I stop it?" He shrieked._

_The man hummed. "You need enough orange paper to make a party banner and a crown."_

"_What?" Sasuke shook his head in disbelief._

"_Bathsheba's possessed him." The man laughed and it was a terrible sound. "They have each other's weaknesses."_

_Sasuke didn't have any orange paper!_

"_Then your soul's forfeit Sasuke-kun." Sasuke turned to yell but Firudo was gone leaving the room empty before the door almost heaved open behind him._

_Hearing an exultant chatter of teeth Sasuke gave up on the door and ran up the steps. The door burst open behind him. Darkness flooded the edge of vision._

And Sasuke woke up sweating and strangely terrified. All the shadows jumped out at him before he realised Neji was hovering above him face twisted in fury.

"Do you have a concussion Uchiha?" he spat. Then stopped and looked very blank.

"Do-you-have-a-concussion?" The Hyuuga tried again with a rising tone of horror.

"Well at least nothing too bad happened on this mission." Neji mouthed in abject disbelief.

Sasuke pulled himself up watching him fascinated.

"Who dropped us off here?" He asked as a test.

"We ran from near the Rain border." Neji answered immediately and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. "Tenten! Lee!"

The two Nin looked from where they were making sure Hanabi was alright.

"Who's Firudo?" Sasuke asked feeling very resigned.

"Who's Firudo?" Four voices bit out in varying tones of anger.

"Sasuke, do you have a concussion?" Lee asked urgently then stopped dead.

"Nod if you know the answer to my question." Sasuke breathed. All four comrades nodded sharply but their mouths went. "We don't know anyone called Firudo."

"Kuso." Sasuke spat balling his fists into tight balls. "He's made himself completely safe."

Tenten pointed at him then at her mouth with a shaking finger.

"It's his challenge to us." Sasuke told her truthfully. The kunoichi curled her fingers into a fist and dropped it swinging, lines marring her forehead.

"Will the Rain nin get me again?" Hanabi asked Neji. Then broke into loud spluttering as she tried to scrape the seal off her mouth. Her cousin stopped her before she did any damage.

"Stop Hanabi." He said grimly. "We can't."

"I can't be under a seal!" The girl shrieked at him in panic. "I'm one of the Hyuuga heiresses!"

Neji's lips twisted into something ironic but he said nothing.

"We can get someone to remove it." Lee suggested swinging his fists.

"And what reason will you give?" Sasuke asked. "You can't remove it. It'll draw far too many questions on what happened on this mission. Guess that bastard didn't trust our word."

"We know what happened." Tenten waved a hand in the air in annoyance. "But due to your concussion you seem to have forgotten and made up a delusion. I think we should go report and get you checked out."

She stopped and hit her face with her palm groaning.

It must have been so frustrating to mean one thing and say another. And insulting. How infuriating to have control snatched away from you.

"There's nothing we can do now." Sasuke spoke flatly. "Let's sort the Hyuuga crisis first."

**I'm operating on the principle that the Hyuuga's eyes see chakra and Sasuke's eyes see the residue of chakra. They are kind of related to each other after all. For the people asking if this is a gen fic or if I have ships planned, well it's really up in the air. They're far too young at the minute and by the time I reach the time skip, I may decide to put a few hints in but the biggest possibility is that it will be a gen fic.**

**Leave a review if you liked it?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And they're all back together! Finally ****.**

The Konoha Nin kept whispering as the five of them ran through the streets aiming for the Hokage's tower. No one tried to stop them or even ask questions why they all looked battered or how they found the missing Hyuuga heiress.

Tenten literally ran into Naruto and Sakura skidded just short of meeting Lee by braking on her toes.

"You are never, ever, _ever _going to Uzu." Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulders, relief coursing through him.

"What why?" Naruto protested like Sasuke had never left. "What the fuck happened to you?"

"I went there and got possessed by a _spirit_ and I killed a few hundred people. I don't want to see what it can do with an actual Uzumaki."

Naruto's jaw flapped open but impressively caught himself.

"Explain that to me later. We need to talk to the Hokage, we have some serious evidence to clear Obito-nii's name." He held up a plastic containing some sort of box.

Sakura waved at him apparently bearing no grudge. He nodded distractedly and continued his conversation with Naruto.

"I need those papers Naruto. Can you get them for me? Give us a few minutes to sort the Hyuuga crisis out and we'll get straight on Obito's case. Ok?"

"Sure." Naruto nodded and pulled a mildly confused Sakura away by the elbow to run down the street. "Hello chibi-Hyuuga glad to see you're safe. Oh and be careful, when I talked to him alone he had me thrown in a cell."

Hanabi smiled uncertainly as the duo disappeared in seconds.

Neji snapped at him to stop dawdling and Sasuke ushered Hanabi to stop staring after Naruto and head for the tower again.

As soon as they entered ANBU melted out of the shadows and pulled them to the side.

"Straight to the Hokage." One of them murmured before hustling them up a flight of stairs and through a door.

"Team 9. Sasuke-kun. Hanabi-chan." The Hokage looked like a kind man with crinkled dark eyes and lines from laughter. Sasuke had vague memories of him coming over to see Naruto when the blond was young and after the massacre, the man paid Sasuke a visit regularly per year.

This did not explain why the man had Naruto thrown in a _cell._

"I am curious to how a handful of genin succeeded in finding you when the rest of your family and my ANBU didn't." The Hokage spoke kindly to Hanabi lacing his fingers under his chin.

"Our eyes pick up use of chakra." Neji started. "Sasuke's eyes pick up _residues _of chakra. We were able to use that to track down the kidnapper."

The Hokage looked intrigued at the sight of Sasuke's Sharingan still activated.

"Rain Nin." Tenten spoke up sounding very bitter. "We tracked it nearly to the border and laid an ambush. Lee…"

"We nearly lost." Lee didn't sound so enthusiastic now. "During the fight Sasuke-kun received an injury to his eyes."

"I can't switch them off anymore." Sasuke muttered.

"Then he got a concussion." All three of Team 9 muttered.

"His version of events is utterly unreliable." Neji muttered.

"Why did you not take a Jonin with you?" The most powerful man in the village asked quietly.

Sasuke's mouth curved into a hard smile.

"Ours is in jail. Theirs disappeared with ANBU. And some Jonin wanted to bring me and my team in to the cells. Who could we have trusted in that circumstances?"

The Hokage asked several more questions before it was determined Sasuke was apparently useless at recalling 'correct information' so Sasuke was dismissed with an order to go stop at the hospital.

"Stay outside for a bit Sasuke." The man said idly. "I want to talk to your team as a whole."

…..################################################################...

Half an hour later when the interrogation was still going on with numerous people entering and exiting the Hokage's office the rest of Team 7 showed up.

"Don't ask me what happened." Sasuke spoke first as Naruto opened his mouth. "I had a concussion, it won't be accurate."

The blond boy's mouth straightened into a grim line of understanding.

"Your eyes." Sakura murmured. The drain was actually making Sasuke mildly tired now and he was tired of seeing the world in high definition.

"I got set on fire and an Uzumaki spirit fused them into place by healing me." Sasuke answered feeling the slightest flash of humour at her reaction.

"Yes you mentioned you went to Uzu." Naruto spoke dryly taking the seat next to Sasuke. "Why don't we hear a story Sakura? It might pass the time."

His heart felt so much lighter when he was with his team. There was none of that tension or the nerve wracking decisions and double guessing. Sasuke told them. About the trip there, the things that happened on the island and what happened on the way back in necessary detail without elaborating once on the doubts Firudo had sprouted inside him about his home village. He wasn't stupid.

Naruto was quiet when Sasuke finished and sat there twiddling his fingers.

"I've never been there." He started to speak almost wondrously. "I have no reason to be so attached to it…but I am so glad Chan'neru were wiped out from _my _homeland. It was a mercy kill Sasuke."

"I wonder who it was." Sakura murmured green eyes cat like and glinting.

"It was surprisingly nice for all that it wanted to kill everyone." Sasuke mused. He sent Naruto a teasing glance.

"Oh ha-ha, it is _not _an inherited trait." Naruto huffed.

"You know you brats don't make sense." Genma's voice drawled from a corridor to their left. "When we try and get you to follow orders you refuse and when there's an actual crisis on you try and see the Hokage."

Sasuke's hands bunched in his shorts. "I'm sure you are very busy in this crisis Genma-san." He said.

"Busy?" The man asked incredulously. "One of the brats I'm tasked with getting to the Hokage falls off the map and then asks me after I've ripped Konoha apart looking for him if I'm busy!?"

Naruto smiled hand slipping up to grip Sakura's shoulder. "We weren't even trying but we found him first. What an ironic event ne?"

A fierce flash of anger lit up the man's eyes sudden and flaring. Then it was gone in the next second leaving them dark and cold.

"I apologise for my team." Sakura owed slightly not a hint of mockery present in her posture. Sasuke mentally grinned remembering the time she had been terrified out of her mind after a few words from the same man. "We failed to get a single notice about the Hokage's orders until Nohara-san informed us. We complied _immediately _Genma-san if you notice."

The brown haired man calmly removed a senbon from his pouch and tilted it this way and that between his teeth.

"Your genin days will be over." He said comfortably. "There are no exceptions, and _all _chunin pass through me. Climb up to my level without your sensei hanging over you like an overgrown bird and I'll show you every single flaw in your pride and skill." He held the senbon between two fingers like a cigarette and raised it to Team 7. "I look forward to it."

"So you believe my big brother will survive this." Naruto's smile was bright and genuinely happy. "I am so pleased!"

"It's really nice to see sensei has good friends huh." Sakura remarked to Sasuke. "I mean he worked so hard just to make sure he knew where you were." She placed a splayed hand over her heart. "They must be really respectful of each other."

"You know I don't remember seeing you at the arrest." Sasuke clapped his hands together enjoying the way a mask had snapped over Genma's features. "Even at that time you must have been trying to help my cousin right? How dedicated."

This time they had won. There was a crackling intensity in the air as Genma's eyes widened and his lips went white from where he was holding the senbon. To Sasuke's unease the predominant expression in the minute cracks in Genma's masks seemed to be disbelief _not _anger. There was something else at play here.

Kurenai stalked in past Genma and stopped at the sight of Team 7 white lipped and pale cheeked in their seats in an effort not to show any reaction from the intensity wracking the room.

"Ah Sasuke-kun." The beautiful woman spoke. "Congratulations. I heard about the Hyuuga incident."

Genma's face soured slightly from behind his captain.

"Naruto-kun." The dark haired Jonin tilted her head by a few inches to look at Naruto. "It's good to see you have been released from the cells."

"Why?" Naruto asked, some acid leaking through. "You _put _me in there in the first place." He was ignored.

"And Sakura-chan was it?" Kurenai's mouth didn't extend by even one millimetre as she looked at the kunoichi. "Pleasure. I apologise we were rather lax in our assessment of your importance to this case. In no way do we think that your life is any less valuable than your team mates. Do not walk away with that impression."

"I get it." Sakura ran a hand through her hair frowning slightly. "I really do. You had a better prosecution case by concentrating on Sasuke and Naruto right?"

Kurenai regarded her evenly.

"Your job was to arrest and bring justice to cases right?" Sakura asked extending her hands in a small shrug. "You felt if Obito was guilty then focusing on the major charges would do the prosecution more justice because ultimately I am a civilian born with nothing useful to the village at this minute. You ignored me because I simply wasn't important enough to charge an elite Jonin like him with. That's logic. I can't fault that. That's _business._"

"Indeed." Kurenai spoke coolly. "You have a good understanding of justice genin."

Sakura shook her head, hair fluttering about her face but her face was set.

"You misunderstand me Yuuhi-san." She stated firmly. "To me that isn't _justice. _That's corruption."

Even Sasuke's eyes went wide. Naruto just stopped his gaping jaw from hitting the floor. What was Sakura doing? Telling the Head of Justice that she stood for corruption?! But Sasuke didn't interfere. If Sakura felt like cheeking Kurenai _Red-eye _Yuuhi to her face he couldn't really talk. He had proposed taking on Zabuza _Devil of the Mist _Momochi without a single hesitation. He spied Naruto discreetly shaking his head in exasperation and knew they were in agreement.

"Watch your place genin." Genma's tone could have frozen water. He stepped forward humour fading quickly from his mouth but found Kurenai's hand at chest height blocking his movement.

"Taichou-"

"Quiet Genma." Kurenai ordered dispassionately. "If a kunoichi wishes to have her opinion heard then it is my duty to encourage that. Speak your mind genin as freely as you please." Her red eyes bored into Sakura's and eventually their kunoichi dropped her gaze. "But make sure you can back your words up." Kurenai finished.

"Stay safe genin." With that the head of Justice walked out beckoning Genma to follow her already discussing other topics. Sasuke wasn't even sure she would remember all of the conversation if asked about it a week later.

"I heard Obito used to challenge Jiraiya of the Sannin on his choice of literature when he was younger." Sasuke said completely straight faced.

"Oh shut up." Sakura sighed. "Dealing justice while ignoring the small everyday people isn't right." She sunk into her seat. "But I'm _such _an idiot."

"Yeah." Naruto spun a kunai around his finger. "At least we challenge people _outside _the village and who aren't important village officials." He didn't look or sound very disapproving.

The Hokage's door opened and Lee was out first.

He jabbed a thumb behind him. "Your turn my youthful friends. I hope it all goes well!"

While Sasuke just grunted Naruto stopped to inspect the boy in green spandex.

"Do you?" The blond asked curiously. "Well thanks I guess." He gave Lee a short nod and carried on past him nodding at Tenten and Neji in the same manner. He did stop however to pull a lock of Hanabi's hair and stick his tongue out at her. Sakura rolled her eyes and shoved him in the office.

"The entire team is here finally." The Hokage didn't sound relaxed at all and set down the document he was scanning. With a macabre flash of humour Sasuke noticed the heaving pile of paperwork the man had to go through and wondered which parts of it Aisa had added on for their sake.

Naruto poked his head out from behind Sasuke. "Are you going to throw me in a cell again?" He asked warily. "After I went into so much detail about Obito and us on the mission as well."

"I wanted to speak to all of you." The most powerful man in the village smiled grimly at the blond. "I thought stirring up some righteous anger might bring you all here before me. Seems like I was right." He pulled a leaf of paper from the precarious pile on his desk. "I heard you've been giving Kurenai and her squad a lot of trouble." His smile had a tint of nostalgia to it. "But it is quite impressive what you managed to do while evading them. So before we begin do you have any things you'd like to say?"

"Yes actually." Sasuke smiled thinly. "Your righteous anger backfired. I'm here to implement clan law."

After coming back after an extremely mentally exhausting mission with an apparent psychopath and gods, hearing that his almost family member had been sent to join his actual family member in the cells had done far more than stoke righteous anger. Sasuke had been downright _livid._

The Hokage paused. "Then I need all the non Uchiha to leave."

"Sakura and Naruto are Uchiha wards and so can stay." Sasuke awed at his own daring to speak back to the Hokage so casually.

"Naruto is yes." The Hokage agreed. "I have not received the paperwork for Sakura yet." He smiled slightly at the pink haired girl.

Sasuke heard Sakura and Naruto begin a discreet hushed conversation behind him.

"Out of curiosity." Sakura hissed. "What does being an official Uchiha ward actually entail?"

"Whoever the head Uchiha is, is basically responsible for your wellbeing and can act as your guardian." Naruto whispered back. "If we get Obito-nii free since he's your Jonin sensei under law he becomes equivalent to a parent and as he's a shinobi he could overrule your mother if he wanted to. You can't exactly say he's not a good person for the job."

Staying quiet Sasuke handed Sakura the form he had Naruto sneak out of Obito's bedside drawer. She scanned it and both her eyebrows flew up.

"How and when did all these get filled in?" She glared at Sasuke who shrugged.

"Obito's paranoid." He answered truthfully. "And _really _prepared."

He could see the decision warring over her face. "He won't make you leave your mother unless you wanted to." He said quietly. "Yes he's pretty angry with her but he does value family remember that."

Sakura let out a deep sigh. "It'll help save him right? That one of the genin he 'risked' is willing to become his ward."

Sasuke nodded once and the girl sighed deeply again before snatching a pen out of her pocket and scrawling something across the bottom and slamming the paper into his chest.

"Mother is going to murder me." She spoke to the ceiling.

"You're one of us now." Naruto nudged her with his elbow playfully.

Sasuke thought he heard Sakura mutter something very uncomplimentary as he walked forward and placed the form on the Hokage's desk.

"There." He pointed at the slip serenely. "Sakura's an Uchiha ward too."

The man shook his head slightly before scanning the document. "Fine. What clan law is it?"

"If Obito is executed I need to know where to bury his ashes." Sasuke stated bluntly. "I need to be able to decide if his crime was enough to not use the traditional burial grounds."

"You want to see all the evidence." The Hokage tilted his head and placed the document down eyes sharp.

"_All _of it." Sasuke stated somewhat happy to be causing a nuisance of himself. It was clear the man did _not _want to do any such thing. If the man refused Sasuke had a pretty good case to take to the village council and only the express written command of the Hokage could stop him then. In either case it would buy Obito time. Plus it would look really suspicious for the Hokage not to grant the request. And Naruto had some evidence he wanted to share didn't he?

As if on cue Naruto shambled forward clutching their Jack in the Box tightly. He handed it to the Hokage who took it with a slightly bemused expression.

"I have some really serious evidence to completely disprove the last charge and majorly put a really, _really _big dent in the others." Naruto also handed over a folded piece of paper. "I know my word isn't admissible in court so I got a Nara to write it all down for me." He smiled at the Hokage and barrelled on. He hit the hammer of the box and instead of the familiar grinning skull an actual yellowing skull popped out.

Sasuke' eyes bugged out of his head. Sakura made a choking noise from behind them. There…had been a …actual head inside that thing? He was pretty sure he had dared a really annoying boy to kiss the grinning skull on the lips once when he was younger. Now he felt really bad and disgusted.

Even the Hokage stared.

"_This._" Naruto said meaningfully catching the head out of the air. "Is the head of Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke's mind slowed; Naruto would not say that without serious evidence…he was just going to give up on the topic of Firudo's identity now.

"_Do you want me to be?"_

He was going to hit something very hard afterwards.

"Have you been living with a disembodied head for years?" Sakura asked sounding slightly strangled sounding like she was regretting her decision now.

"He's been dead for uhh about fourteen years now. Forensics did the science it's definitely a Hatake and they found segments of dried out evidence for flesh that decayed fourteen years ago. Hatake senior was dead at that point so this must be Kakashi's head." He tossed the head to the Hokage who caught it a rare look of stunned shock on his features.

"So that's the charge for conspiring with Kakashi smashed." Naruto counted off. "Zabuza is counted as mission collateral, and the other charge is bullshit anyway, he's been taking care of us for years without selling us to organ pluckers."

Sasuke nearly choked at that intended taunt.

Sakura interrupted at that point sounding quite sweet and innocent. "And surely the fact we're all alive counts for something. End result not end means right?"

Sasuke grinned inwardly enjoying the fact the man must have been _really _off balance for them to even see a glimpse of his shock. Mentally he made a note to ask Obito about the fact he had sealed his team mate's head inside a Jack a Box and said not a word about it.

"Bring Obito in." The Hokage croaked turning the head over in his hands. "I think it's time I finished this."

Yes! And even if this didn't go in their favour they would have a twenty four hour gap in which Obito would be given time to prepare for the operation which they could use to _get him out._ The skeleton key suddenly felt very heavy in his pouch with the weight of the future resting upon it.

Within a few minutes Obito strode in shrugging off the ANBU holding his shoulder in one smooth movement.

"Hello great-great-sensei." He spoke somewhat mockingly. "Loving your fashion sense." He held up his manacled wrists with a clank and a sardonic eyebrow.

He had stubble over the line of his jaw and the cut of his cheekbones was more prominent than before. Now his hair was messy and slightly greasy and even with a few days in prison Obito still retained a great amount of his aristocratic looks and dignity.

Well he kept the second until he opened his mouth Sasuke amended.

"Hi kids." He smiled at them and waved as best as he could. "Oh good you're all alive, we'll have a _talk _about that later hmm?"

The Hokage merely held Kakashi's head up silently in a silent accusation.

"I couldn't tell anyone." Obito said.

"You could have told _me._" The Hokage spoke fiercely setting the head down on his desk. "Obito, how long have you kept this a secret?"

"No I _couldn't _have." His cousin said. "You _would _have told Sensei, you loved him like a son and you would have thought ripping the bandage off the wound was the best way to heal. Kakashi was his protégé! He would never have healed and I would be responsible for hurting him further. And Kami…can you imagine if _Rin _had found out? It would have broken her heart, she _loved _him Hokage." Obito sighed letting some of his sudden intensity die down.

"It didn't really make a difference." Obito confessed shrugging. "Kakashi was dead to us in every single way possible. It made absolutely no difference he was actually dead."

"It was your duty to report it!" The man at the desk snarled.

"Don't be a hypocrite Hokage." Obito's voice was suddenly very cool. "Kakashi was a traitor. If I was not allowed to go after him you can't show remorse a traitor to your village is dead no matter how close he was to you."

There was a bang as the Hokage's hand slammed on his desk sending papers flying.

"You _dare _speak to me in that way Jonin?!"

Sasuke spied a quick look at his team mates to see how they were coping with the near choking pressure.

"Yes." Obito said perfectly calmly. "Because you need to hear it. Kakashi is dead. I am innocent. Those are the _facts _here."

There was a ringing silence. The Hokage was staring at Obito like the idea of _Obito _wilfully talking to him in such a way was beyond imagining. Obito was staring back small beads of sweat decorating the side of his temple. Then there was Team 7 low in their seats trying very hard not to attract any of that fatal attention.

"You all pass." The Hokage whispered.

For a second Sasuke didn't quite believe what he was hearing then his brain simultaneously clicked into action at the removal of some of the pressure and screeched to a halt at those three words. THIS had been A TEST? Had he really trusted Firudo, feared for his life, escaped to Uzu and got possessed by a spirit to save his cousin's life only for it to turn out to be a test?!

Blood dripped from where his nails dug into his palm. He was breathing quickly but shallowly rage filling up from a cold hard piece of his heart.

Naruto had gone very, very still beside Sasuke. He might as well have been carved out of stone. Sakura's lips were _white_ and her eyes flashed a violent shade of green.

"What?" Obito breathed in utter disbelief.

"Congratulations." The Hokage said slightly robotically. "Team 7 qualifies for the Chunin exams."

"No!" Obito snarled. "They're not ready! I haven't nominated them!" An ANBU unlocked his manacles so that they fell away with a clang. Obito strode forward to lean over the Hokage's desk fingers splayed on the surface.

This…had been a test to see if they were ready to be chunin? But…Chan'neru! They wouldn't have _allowed _a child to be taken as a _test _for them would they?

"Obito." The third Hokage tried to calm down the furious Jonin. "They don't need to _pass. _But if they put up a good enough showing then the pressure on them will ease! You'll get more funding to train them, it'll be to your advantage."

"_I have not _nominated them." Obito repeated icily. "Now who the fuck went and overrode my decision about _my genin team?_"

"This is a joke right?" Naruto asked in a voice that told everyone he knew very well it wasn't a joke. He stood up abruptly. "All _this _was a test? Making us feel like fugitives in our own village was a _test?_ We thought he was going to die!" The blond snarled waving a hand at Obito.

"What kind of a test was this?!" Furious water gleamed at the edges of Naruto's eyes. "In the middle of it Sasuke went off on his own to retrieve the Hyuuga girl! And _if you tell me that was part of the test _I will _never respect you again!"_

"No the kidnapping was not a part of the test." The Hokage stated firmly holding up a hand. "That was a genuine tragedy and coincidence. However your decision as a team to put a girl's life above your sensei's life weighed heavily in your favour. It was not part of the test but when we learnt what you had done, we counted it as part of it. You all passed with flying colours proving the innocence of your sensei _and _rescuing Hyuuga Hanabi."

Sasuke was shaking.

Sakura grabbed his arm digging her nails into the underside of his wrist in an attempt to make him focus on the pain instead of his blinding fury. He couldn't say a word what he had done to rescue that girl. _Not a word _about the guilt that had turned his stomach at the fact he had left his cousin in a cell while he went off to save another life.

"Hokage!" Sakura's voice was terribly clear. "How is this fair? None of the other teams faced anything as twisted as this?"

The man smiled slightly. "It is a miracle Haruno-chan, that you have retained what it means to be fair after weeks on this team."

"_What _does that mean?" Obito's voice was as sharp as the edge of a blade. "Did you really think Hokage, that I would favour my kin and ignore the third? Now _who overrode my decision?_"

"The War Hawk." The Hokage said simply.

"He _does not _have the authority!" Obito yelled.

Who was the War Hawk?

"He does if I agree with him." The man said mildly and Obito stopped as if electrified.

"It is an honour Jonin to have your genin entered for the chunin exams on their first round."

"It is a terror." Obito corrected. "They have been genin for weeks at this point. There are candidates there who have been training for years. I _would _have entered them for the next ones, why couldn't the village have been patient?!"

"We would have blocked your decision." The Hokage told him frankly. "Chunin exams at another village would have been too dangerous."

"Then I would have waited three years!" Obito threw his arms up.

"Far too long." Obito was shut down immediately.

…Why was it too long? It was perfectly normal to take years to become chunin. Sasuke's mind pricked at him, the only time genin were required to become chunin quickly were in times of war. He remembered what Firudo had told him about accusing another village and his mouth went dry. But that had been an accident?

"To develop the will of fire you must be tested by fire." The Hokage tugged on his beard lightly. "They must get stronger Obito-"

Sasuke placed his finger on the desk from where he had moved with lightning speed from his chair to by the two men.

"Idiot!" Naruto hissed at him. "Sit _down. _Sakura stop him."

"What the hell can I do?" He heard her mutter back.

"This Chunin exam." Sasuke asked extremely mildly ignoring both of his moronic team mates and the pulsing anger in his chest. "We'll do it."

He needed to know what was going on between all the villages. Getting involved in an inter-village event seemed to be best for getting answers. If Konoha was gearing up for enemies then this chunin exam should be brutal. There was a part of him that revelled at the thought of taking on opponents whose names he wouldn't remember but whose strength he would.

"Sasuke!" It was very close to a snap.

"I want to do this." Sasuke said simply.

"Well I don't." Sakura cut in from behind them looking very unimpressed. "I'll trust Obito's judgement we're not ready over your desire to get stronger any day. We nearly died on our first C rank, do you _really_ want to tempt fate further_?_"

"Oh no." Naruto moaned into his hands. "Please not another argument. We _just _got back together."

"If they're not a team they can't compete." Obito declared pointing between Sasuke and Sakura as evidence. "That's the iron law of all chunin exams." He sounded very relieved.

They seriously needed a way of getting information to each other in secret. But Sasuke didn't get annoyed, he hadn't told them the reason for his sudden insanity after all.

"Can I talk to you two for five minutes?" He held up five fingers and looked meaningfully at his cousin and the Hokage. "Great." Without waiting for an answer he strode forward and literally dragged his team mates out of the room and into a closet for some semblance of privacy.

It was dark and all he could see was shadows of gray on the side of his team mate's skin and bodies.

"Are you insane?" Sakura hissed at him immediately. "_Chunin exams?_"

"Yes, yes I know." Sasuke snapped back. "We're not ready but there's something really odd going on."

"You left out things when telling us what happened didn't you?" Naruto guessed wearily. "Spill."

Sasuke paused then carried on without missing a beat. "Firudo may have alluded there's a war coming."

"And you _believed _him?" Sakura's voice could have cut glass and did cut into his pride quite a bit.

"Of course not! But there's random pieces of evidence that matches up with what he said and I wanted to check he was wrong by taking part in the exams."

"So you _did _believe him." Sakura didn't sound too impressed.

"I didn't believe anyone!" Sasuke bit out. "I want to see what's happening with my own eyes then come to a judgement. So since I need the chunin exams for that, we _all _need to enter."

"How selfish." He could hear the sneer in Sakura's voice.

"May I point out?" Naruto started cautiously, "That if Rain attends they're going to be pissed at us because they think we framed them and we're going to be pissed at them because we think they kidnapped Hanabi but can't prove it? If what you say is right then we're going to have a blood bath of a chunin exam."

"How is that good?" Sakura asked fiercely not hearing a single complaint in Naruto's speech. "We'll be the weakest targets there!"

"It means." Naruto was grinning in the dark. "That the strong teams will be obsessed with each other. They won't _bother _to pay attention to a rookie team who'll probably get taken out by the cross fighting. Add on to the fact it's on _our _home ground…this might just be our best ever chances to do well at the exams and get the evidence Sasuke needs."

It was nice to have Naruto always watching his back.

"You're both insane!" Sakura kept her shriek to a whisper.

"Remember who told the head of justice she stood for corruption?" Sasuke asked dryly. "Think if we don't take this chance we will have gone through this for nothing. I hate this fucking situation but leaving it slip by is even worse. Let's grab it and make the most of it."

"If…" Sakura spoke slowly. "I say no…what will you do?"

That was the question. What were they willing to do for this information?

"Probably." Sasuke shrugged in a rolling motion. "Lock you in your room for a few days while Naruto maintains clones of you. Or if you cooperate not lock you in but trust you enough to stay out of any officials way to stop us from getting disqualified. If you really don't want to participate that's open to you."

He would feel a little bad but that wouldn't stop him from doing what he needed to do.

"And you would do that?" Sakura asked Naruto pleasantly. Warning bells went off in Sasuke's head. He had just told her he was willing to lock her up for the sake of his curiosity and she just smiled nicely at his brother.

Naruto's answer was very wary. "It would be quite sad if Sakura-chan wasn't there to face the exams with us."

"I see." Sakura mused. Then without warning Sasuke felt a harsh knee in his stomach and Naruto's head was smashed into the side of the cupboard. In the limited space Sasuke wheezed and bent over, hitting his head off a wailing Naruto and then both found themselves being thrown out of the cupboard and onto the tiled floor hard.

What the hell had they done now?! There was no reason for her to be so pissed! His solution combined both of their desires!

"For Kami's sake would you stop with the violence?" He barked at Sakura plucking Naruto off the ground who was staring at their kunoichi in mild horror.

"How dare you?!" She shrieked. "How _dare _you replace me with a clone!? You _think _a clone is enough to take my place in the team?!"

"We're not much of a team if you refuse to support us." Sasuke drawled deliberately making it condescending.

"It's not teamwork moron, if you just go off and do what you do, and rearrange the other members to fit!" Sakura shrieked at him hands at the level like she very much wanted to strangle him.

"Well you won't help us and you won't let us help ourselves." Sasuke said sharply very irritated. "What's your plan?"

"You are _not _leaving me behind!" Sakura seized him by the shirt and dragged him forward. "Do _you understand _Uchiha Sasuke? For the first time at least let us work as a team from start to end!"

Sasuke stared. Naruto stared.

Sakura let out a sigh. "Let me put in a way you will understand." Her smile was brittle. "This is the Chunin exam. Do you think you can win against fully bonded teams using you two and a clone when both of you leap ahead at the drop of a pin?"

"Yes?" Naruto offered weakly.

"No!" She shot him down ruthlessly.

"Right." Naruto shrank back slightly still watching her iron grip on Sasuke's shirt warily.

"This wouldn't be a problem if you helped us." Sasuke pointed out logically.

She let out a disgusted huff. "What did you think I was going to do moron?! Leave you to hang and dry?" Rolling her eyes at the ceiling she carried on. "Then you went and told me to my face that _insulting _mockery of a plan!"

Oh she didn't like being told her role in the team could be filled by Naruto's clone. Sasuke considered. To be honest he wouldn't like it either, that might have been a little inconsiderate of him especially after he had brutally shot her down about her lesser place in the team. The funny thing was he had actually been trying to respect her decision.

Naruto let out a little giggle.

"Sorry." He laughed. "But we're so bad at this team thing even when we're trying to be good to each other. So what are we actually arguing over now?"

"I want to enter the exams." Sasuke stated firmly crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't but I have a feeling you'll all die of testosterone poisoning if I'm not there." Sakura muttered just low enough to pick up.

"I don't particularly care." Naruto held his own hand up. "So are we in agreement party?"

"One thing." Sakura held her hand up. "If we are doing this we are doing this properly. We are not going to beat them. We are going to _kill _them."

He could admire that sentiment. He _did _admire that sentiment. There was no way he was telling her that after she punched him.

"Obviously." He said sarcastically instead. "So are we done-?"

"No." Sakura shook her head.

What now? She had _just _agreed to help them.

"Yes?" Sasuke asked in a long suffering sigh. He didn't protest when he was spun around and had a finger jabbed into his chest because he was unusually lenient that day after a harrowing rescue mission and due to the fact he couldn't remove his annoying team mate's fingers.

"If it turns out we entered the stupid exams for _nothing _you have to do a punishment." Sakura glared at him. "Since I'm only doing this because of what you said."

Very indignant Sasuke protested back. He was trying to find out if there could be a war in the future and she was more concerned with whether he was right or wrong about the phrasing of the hypothesis? It was perfectly possible he had the wrong date but not the wrong idea.

"Guys." Naruto pointed out calmly. "We're in a public corridor and people are staring at us."

Smiling slightly at the curious chunin Naruto found himself ignored by his two fighting team mates. His smile turned slightly false and the blond left the two genin in the corridor while he went to tell the Hokage and a still pissed Obito all of them would be participating in the exams.

**Leave a review on the way out?**

**For anyone who is slightly confused, the Obito being kidnapped part of the arc was the Hokage testing Team 7 to see how they would cope without their mentor figure as he's very aware they're secluded and quite private. He just wanted to see if Team 7 could keep their heads and not panic or have a break down. Unfortunately Firudo and Chan'neru struck at the same time and Team 7 really had no time and split apart into the rest of the arc. Sasuke just got back from the mess that is the Chunin qualifying test and Chan'neru meddling and they're all quite angry at the minute. The Hokage was basically like 'shit this was not part of the plan but they're doing fricking excellent so I'll just count it as part of their test. Also how are they doing better than my fricking ANBU? But Obito will actually kill me if I give one of them a field promotion so I'll leave it to the exams.'.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. This is the last chapter for this arc guys, so there's going to be a delay now until the next arc gets written. I'm really glad that people are still reading this **** and I hope you enjoy.**

Obito listened to the distinctive sounds of two of his genin fighting and resisted the urge to slump in a chair and wail his luck. Yes Sasuke was a good kid. Yes Sakura was a good addition to the team. But _why _for Kami's sake did he have to get the two children not affected by good looks one bit? If either of them stuttered a bit around each other or was nicer because they had a crush on each other it would make his life _now _much simpler and make his life when they turned teenagers hell.

"I see Rin's program at the academy produced excellent results." The Hokage muttered after a few minutes of fighting.

Naruto walked in calmly.

"They'll be back in a bit." His little brother told the bemused adults, reclaiming his seat. "We all agreed. We're doing it."

Obito's jaw dropped open. Sakura had _failed _him. It was meant to be her job to stop the other two doing something stupid. Which meant either Sasuke had bullied her into it or he actually had a very good reason for entering.

"Out of curiosity." He rasped. "What are they fighting about this time?"

Naruto sent him a look. "Probability, risk and hypotheses."

"_Why?_"

The blond shrugged swinging his feet in his chair. "Didn't really want to interrupt."

None of them knew what a chunin exam was. None of them had _any idea _what it did to people who weren't ready. The psychological and physical trauma could set a genin back _years._ Yes it would be on their own soil, and the older Konoha teams tended to mostly ignore the younger ones (their senseis had that drilled into their heads) but the Konoha system favoured late blooming skill so Konoha genin teams were often the least skilled of all the villages whereas their Jonin were some of the best.

What a troublesome team…

"Your team has agreed Obito." The Hokage shuffled the pile of paper on his desk. "What will you do?"

"Give me a minute." He muttered before striding to the door and yanking two of his remaining genin back into the room. Lifting them slightly off the floor to distract them from their argument he turned back to the Hokage feeling oddly serious and very much anticipating everyone's reaction.

"I am going to throw a party." Obito smiled beatifically. "So clear a day from everyone's schedules."

"Excuse me?"

"Obito-Nii…?"

"What are you plotting now sensei?"

The Hokage raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Oh come on." Obito laughed. "What's not to celebrate? I just got freed. I have a new ward." He nodded at the paperwork on the desk. "Sasuke's turning thirteen and my team have passed their preliminary Chunin exam qualifier."

I suppose the village is paying for all this." The Hokage asked in a tone as dry as dust.

"Absolutely." Obito said cheerfully, not missing a beat.

If his team insisted on being entered for this Chunin exams then he was going to make sure they had every possible advantage he could give them. Sasuke was shooting him a look through red eyes; with a jolt Obito finally took in what state his genin were in with a guardian's point of view. There was no reason for Sasuke to keep his eyes on now, only other explanation was that he _couldn't. _He tapped the corner of eyes and his cousin shook his head, matted hair waving as his head moved.

One: Great that was a great psychological and physical intimidation for the exams. Two: Shit that would tire Sasuke out fast. Three: Didn't Itachi have the same problem? He was pretty sure he had seen Itachi switch his off on very rare occasions so he wasn't sure. It wasn't that hard to fix so he'd right on that soon.

"What are you planning Obito-nii?" Naruto asked curiously but warily latching on to Obito's sleeve as if the man would disappear any second. Obito's heart melted. Before Naruto could react Obito had reached down and scooped him in a hug. The blond froze and hugged back just as fiercely, fingers clawing into the back of Obito's Jonin jacket.

Releasing Naruto he offered the chance of a hug to Sasuke and to his amusement was sent a blank stare. Sakura politely turned him down, out of most likely guilt over the ward thing. He snatched the paperwork off the table not deterred one bit. He had a new ward! There was no need to find a wife and have kids, they just came to him. However this complicated things with the Haruno matriarch immensely; she was going to hate Obito for stealing her daughter away under the eyes of the law.

"Sasuke." He spoke again and all of his team snapped to attention. It was very cute really. "Don't go to a hospital, it'll give away your condition to the practicing genin medics. Go home and do whatever you like for a bit. Write a report for me yeah? Naruto same for you." His two boys nodded but didn't move yet. "Sakura. We're going to talk to your mother and work this thing out."

Sakura gritted her teeth but nodded. He didn't want to be the type of person who ripped people away from loved ones. That wasn't what he was aiming for at all. He laid a hand on her hand noticing the irrational fear that made her eyes not able to focus on one spot.

There was something wrong with Sasuke and Naruto too. Sasuke's eyes were far too narrow and lined for his slight smile. There was strain at the corner of his mouth and a strain in his wrists that kept them ramrod straight. It wasn't fear at the forefront of his cousin's psyche but an angry nervousness. Almost like he was being hunted…or tormented.

He switched his attention to his last genin. There were lines on his forehead where Naruto was pulling his eyebrows together and smiling at the same time. There was one advantage to being an emotional idiot Obito thought grimly, he could identify everything Naruto was feeling with a near absolute accuracy. Concern, relief and a healthy dose of anguish.

How depressing.

He had only been gone for a few days!

"Ki-ids." He sang and his team leapt into action. Meanwhile he scooped up one of the last remaining links to Kakashi he had left.

"Don't tell Rin." He asked the Hokage quietly. "She'd never recover."

"She'd also never forgive you if she found out you kept it from her." The man pointed out not unkindly.

Rin could hate him. That was fine. He had done her a grave injustice by doubting her during his team's test and he felt a bit empty inside at the memory of what he had said to his oldest team mate. But she could not find out about Kakashi. Obito was not blind, nor deaf nor dumb; Rin had _loved _Kakashi. It would absolutely destroy her to know that there was absolutely no chance of Kakashi ever repenting and coming back to them.

Even if Rin betrayed him down to his most precious belief his love for that woman wouldn't waver. His confidence might and had, he might not know if he could trust her on all matters but that didn't matter. He wouldn't let it become a problem. If…she found out…that woman would want revenge on who had killed Kakashi and she would not be content until that person was dead and she wouldn't _care _what rules she had to break in the process. Obito did not want to be deployed against his team mate either to bring her back to Konoha in chains or to discretely eliminate her on the battlefield.

It was him being so _selfish. _But it was his selfishness keeping his precious people alive so Obito was content to wrap the information up and hide it away so that his world would not shatter due to the one person who kept on pulling his life out from under his feet.

"Rin-chan doesn't have a mean bone in her body!" Obito laughed sealing the head back in the ludicrous Jack in the Box.

He did though.

His logic and loyalty to the village was so strong that they overrode everything else but something deep inside him whispered that he would have liked to have been included in the plan.

Obito ignored that. It wasn't important at the minute.

"Come on Sakura." He said cheerfully tucking the box under his arm. "I fancy something cheap and salty to wash out all the prison rations afterwards. How does ramen sound?"

He grinned at his kunoichi who huffed slightly in amusement.

…..#################################################################...

"Were you serious?" Naruto demanded as soon as they were out of visible and auditory range of everyone in the Hokage building. "Firudo knew my parents?"

"Trap." Sasuke said immediately. "I have no doubts."

"Well obviously!" Naruto huffed. Sasuke eyed him suspiciously.

"Tell me you're not going to run off and ask Firudo about your parents."

"I swear." Naruto promised completely straight faced. Complete _lie. _Sasuke dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

The first drop of rain hit Sasuke on his cheek. He glanced up briefly to see gray storm clouds gather above the village. How funny…the storm had followed him. The goose bumps on his arms did a Mexican wave. It hadn't…really followed him, had it?

There was a punch to his shoulder. "That raincloud came from Kumo." Naruto said flatly.

"Hmm." Sasuke allowed. "Can you do something for me?"

"What is it?" Now it was Naruto's turn to be suspicious. Sasuke's grin was entirely innocent.

"Let's make Obito's favourite food tonight. I can't go and buy food like this…so?"

Naruto stared, arms crossed over his chest. "…Fine?" he turned to go but kept turning back around as if he thought Sasuke's word couldn't be trusted.

"I will be at the house." Sasuke assured him.

With one last unreadable look Naruto ran off, steps light and swift. Sasuke's smile slipped off his face.

…##############################################################...

Entering his room Sasuke immediately pulled the mattress off with one hand. It was awkward as his fist didn't have enough strength to pull it fully off but the engraving tucked into the frame was now in his reach.

He reached out and took the engraving and a picture from his night stand and _really _looked at them.

"I prayed to you." He said suddenly. "I did it twice: once for Obito and once for myself."

The engraving's features were stone hard with cold gems for eyes.

"I begged you." Sasuke's voice trembled with a rage that he had been supressing for as long as possible. "And you did _nothing._" He smiled coldly at the ceiling, throwing his head back. "I knew praying was a waste of time." He muttered. "Was my plea too feeble for you to hear? Were we too pathetic to even spare even a glance? Or is it that you're just a tale made up by people who can't cope with the brutal truth that life is just us living and dying?"

His hands shook with a rage so intense, that the light playing off the gems almost looked real.

"You left Obito to die!" Sasuke snarled. "I was saved by a spirit of another clan! We're the last worshippers you'll _ever _have you fucking gods! Go out with a little dignity!"

Raising it high Sasuke brought down the engraving _hard. _It shattered on impact, pieces scattering everywhere and ice cold gems bouncing off the ground.

"I see two options." Sasuke whispered changing frightening quickly to a water-like stillness. "Either you exist or you don't. If you do, then you let all my family die without interfering. You were willing to ignore me and Obito and now I reject you! I _reject _you! I will not worship such cruel gods! _However _if you don't exist then the only thing I've thrown away today is trash."

Sasuke brought his foot down upon the pieces of stone grinding them further into the floor.

"The only place you should still be known should be in the history books. You are _dead _to the present!"

With his other hand he brought up the picture of his clan taken sometime before his sixth birthday.

"The Uzumakis were wiped out almost to the last man you know." He said conversationally. "And they loved each other so much they left a patchwork of their souls behind." He shook his head almost wondrously. "Where is your hate?" He asked.

"Where is your hate that you were killed by your heir?" Sasuke asked again voice sharper. "Where is that emotion you were so proud of? Dammit! Why didn't you do the same?" Hot tears pricked the corner of his vision. "Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe you need to be experts in soul chakra to be able to do it. But I refuse to believe that in such a big clan we didn't have even one! I don't understand! Was there something wrong with us…did you not love us enough to do the same?!"

His fingers tightened on the frame's edge as the glass creaked and finally the water spilled.

His mother's face was smiling at the child version of Sasuke. Itachi stared straight ahead, their father's hand on his shoulder. Side by side the rest of the proud Uchiha clan stood feet shoulder width apart from the very youngest to the oldest.

"What went wrong?" Sasuke asked, an unforgivable drop of water landing on the frame. Furiously he wiped it away and then at his eyes, nearly ripping off his eyelids in his haste to dry them. "We were happy!"

The glass cracked straight across the picture cleaving the family into two.

The smear of water on the glass slid into the crack blurring Itachi's face so that it couldn't be seen anymore.

"I will drag the answers out of your corpse." Sasuke vowed, pressing down on Itachi's face so that the glass cracked in a spider web and broke the image version of his brother into tiny little pieces.

He placed it back on his stand but it didn't look right. So he hurled it at the wall, it bounced off the corner of the frame with a heavy thud and stuck in the wall quivering and raining pieces of glass like a deformed shuriken.

"Sasuke?" Obito's whisper cut into his fog filled mind. Mortified he whirled around, had Obito seen him throw the last picture of their family into the wall? His cousin was gazing at him in shock, eyes taking in the damage and the red rims matching Sasuke's irises.

"Sakura." Obito called out eyes fixed on Sasuke. "Put the box back would you? Then try to phone your mother to arrange a meeting."

Sasuke heard Sakura's answer but his jaw was locked tight.

"Sasuke." Obito spoke softly, closing the door behind him. "What happened?"

His jaw was starting to hurt with Sasuke forcefully holding it in place.

"You treasured this." Obito picked up one of the eyes from the engraving. "It was the only thing Grandma passed down to you…the mission Sasuke? What happened there?"

Sasuke opened his mouth just a fraction of a crack. "I was possessed." He croaked. "By a spirit who claimed it was a god against the curse that wiped out the Uzumakis."

And the whole story came tumbling out, Sasuke talking quickly and tripping over his words still unsettled by his emotional outburst. Obito sat down on the floor by the bed and pulled Sasuke down next to him just listening to the boy talk. He didn't say a word when Sasuke fumbled trying to find words to describe the possession. He didn't say a word when Sasuke told him the things he had done while possessed.

"I don't care I helped kill all those people." Sasuke admitted. "But I do care about the consequences…about what it means if the things I saw and were told were true."

Obito still didn't say a word.

"Obito?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"I'm still in shock chibi." Obito muttered. "There I was in my cell while you went and took on a curse. I am _very _proud of you right now. Placing Hanabi's life above mine was the right thing to do Sasuke. I lived and did many things I am proud of, that girl hasn't even started to live yet."

Obito continued. "Firudo is a lying trickster remember that. He's lied about his name, appearance, background and so is probably lying about everything else he has told you about. There is _no way _the Hokage would let anyone under his protection be sold for spare parts. Higher Nin have the ability to twist other's minds into a battleground and win with just a few words. Don't doubt yourself Sasuke, you lose everything when your core beliefs waver."

"Yeah." Sasuke said. "Control right?"

"Psychological warfare." Obito added on. "Whoever this Firudo is, I don't think he fully recovered from a war mind set. He's seeing conspiracies in coincidences and is good enough to make you see his delusions as reality."

How many times had that man lied to them? That point was very true Sasuke mused. It was just the man's bad luck to pick the one team that would know more about the man he was impersonating than him himself. His mouth twitched into a smirk; that thought was very satisfying actually.

Outside of their safe walls there were monsters out there like that man, Firudo and that nameless curse. He was not stupid to think that they would never meet another monster in their lives again; that meant getting stronger. A _lot _stronger.

"I know you don't like us entering the exams." Sasuke spoke. "But it made you strong right?"

Obito closed his eyes as if pained. "Yes."

"We're not at war." Sasuke smiled slightly. "Rin told me strength was a bit like climbing a ladder. When the wind's not blowing you make progress-"

"And in gale force winds you grip on tight and hope not to die. If you survive you are stronger than climbing a thousand miles in peace." Obito quoted.

"We need that foundation to grip onto." Sasuke finished. "All we can do is run away Obito."

"There was a story I heard once." Obito held up a finger. "About a blood soaked man who kept running and running and in the end his name was enough to terrify darkness."

"That's a story." Sasuke returned flatly. "I've heard stories about the corpses walking about of the sea; how running just brought them to the other edge of the world and everyone and everything fell down screaming as the world tilted."

Obito paused, a shadow of a grin flitting across his face. "Fair point. Remind me, I really need to buy you more happy stories."

"The Second's Songbird was a happy poem?" Sasuke offered after wracking his brain.

"It really wasn't kid." Obito straightened pulling Sasuke up. "Now let's fix that eyes of yours."

"They've been fused into place?" Sasuke frowned. Surely that kind of damage was irreversible?

"Your optical chakra networks yup." Obito popped the p. "You've seen a Byakugan right? Seen those veins? Those are the optical veins themselves, they bulge even inside the head area so not a good idea to have them activated for long. Those are _not _the optical chakra networks. They need both to work…and so do you luckily." He poked Sasuke in the forehead with a long finger. "Your chakra networks have been permanently switched on, but the optical veins themselves are fine. If you manage to 'switch' those off the Sharingan will be deactivated."

Sasuke stared. "You mean it's like I need both signals to switch it on and even if one is permanently on, I can still control it?"

"You got the gist of it." Obito shrugged. "Where do you think the red colour comes from anyway?"

…###############################################################...

Obito wanted to be angry. He really did. Sasuke could have been killed or worse during this fool hardy mission but Obito knew if he had been in Sasuke's place he would have done the exact same thing. It was a bit difficult to get properly worked up over something when Rin's voice dryly pointed out every single hypocritical thought he was having. He should have been angry. All he was, was relieved instead.

Next time he promised. Next time any of them did anything foolish then he would get angry. This time he was just happy to get them all back. He waited until Sasuke had fixed his eyes and left, then held up a part of Amaterasu's stone face between his fingers. How had Sasuke described it? He hadn't been in control of his actions…and the spirit had amplified his desire until it warped into something horrifying. His mind spun back to that night.

_Itachi had given him no warning._

That wasn't possible. A cold shiver settled in the bone of both shoulder blades.

"_It told me that its counterpart could only be summoned by a willing sacrifice."_

No!

"_Ah look Obito. The Dead Demon Seal, look how complex it is!"_

"…_What's the deal with the name?"_

"_Well it's hypothesised that the cost for this seal is that of the castor's soul. Hence Dead Demon."_

Obito's eyes went very wide.

_Minato-sensei and Kushina-san lay so terribly still, a blackness pooling around their middle and on the ground. Rin lay unconscious a few feet away, bloody hands staring at the sky. The wailing infant wriggled on top of the makeshift stone altar. And Obito stared in horror at the fifty foot abomination towering above the altar, claw retracting from the infant's stomach._

_It was horribly gaunt with ribs showing clearly, a wild shock of hair reached to its navel, black teeth gripped a knife and a loose cloak covered its shoulders and stomach downwards. But most of all Obito couldn't tear his eyes from the glowing shifting humanoid figure tangled in the thing's hair._

_It took him a second to place that the terrifying monster was just an afterimage and he was far too late to help his sensei's soul free itself. Falling to his knees he let out an anguished wail._

There was no way…

Light from the sun fell on the floor at just the right angle for it to reflect off the gems and blind Obito for a second.

"Why didn't you side with the Uchiha?" He asked the piece of stone. "They wanted what was best for _them. _You're meant to approve."

Amaterasu's eye and fraction of cheek had no answer. The eyes sockets were blank and it seemed like the goddess was staring off into space not even seeing Obito.

"What am I doing?" Obito asked himself, letting his arm drop to rest across his knee. "I'm seeing too much into things."

But there was one traitorous thought in the back of his head.

Had Itachi's god sounded like his little brother?

…##################################################################...

Sasuke nearly ran into Haruno Aisa when he ran up the stairs up to the Haruno house.

"Sasuke-kun." The woman stated with a hint of mild surprise. "Sakura is out."

"I left something in her room." Sasuke shrugged, "Can I go get it?"

He wondered how the woman letting him into her house would react when she learnt the man she had helped now had more of a say in her daughter's life than she did. What a bitter taste it would be…not quite betrayal, not quite expectation.

"Your cousin is free?" Aisa called after him, voice sharp, as he bounded up the stairs.

He owed her more than a simple nod.

"Yes." He spun around and sank into a bow. She would never know what he was thanking her for as he didn't know himself.

"Family is important." Aisa mused and the repetition of Obito's words out of her mouth jolted his heart suddenly. "Come on Sasuke-kun, I'll lock the door after you. I have lunch with my daughter to get to."

His mouth was dry. Was this guilt? He didn't understand the relationship between his team mate and his mother at all. The mother left the daughter for long periods of time and the daughter couldn't stand the mother for any sustained length of time. Suddenly he hoped Obito understood them far better than Sasuke did because otherwise he had a feeling an angry Haruno Aisa would seriously impact their team dynamics.

Entering Sakura's room he headed straight for the books. Pushing the one on kekkei genkei to one side, he pulled out the ones on history. Flipping through the pages he found the information on the authors.

Karasu Shin: assassinated by CIRRUS three years ago. Heidaichi Wakashiba: disappeared with the draft of his new book somewhere in the plains of Suna. Tanaka Yuu: he lived back in the First's time, he was useless. Jourichi Sena: house arrest for publishing libel. His eyebrows went up, what on earth were these historians doing? Arekawa Fukanara: in a retirement home where he had been for the last twenty years. Pausing Sasuke checked the date of publication, the original book had been published about twenty years ago but there were numerous revised volumes printed within a few months of that release date with the latest revision being around five years ago.

Arekawa Fukanara…maybe he could have some answers, as he seemed to be the only historian Konoha had _left. _

….#################################################...

"You have a visitor Sensei." The nurse showed Sasuke in smiled then left. This was terrible security, Sasuke could have been an assassin and killed everyone in the room. What the hell did the woman think she was doing?

Sasuke ignored it with great difficulty. "Fukanara sensei?" He asked strolling into the room and shrugging off his wet hood. Water ran down the curve of his spine and his hair was plastered over his forehead.

A wizened old man in an armchair lifted his head slightly. "Do I know you child?" he wheezed. "Someone I taught perhaps?"

"No." Sasuke dragged a stool from the side of the room and sat in front of the man creating a mini puddle on the carpet. "I had questions about the book you published on the founding of Konoha."

He met the old man's dark eyes straight on and was satisfied to see a still present gleam of intelligence. He placed his headband on the table spinning it so that the leaf was clearly visible.

"That symbol." Sasuke asked casually. "Where did it come from?"

"That's not a topic covered by the book." Fukanara rasped picking the headband up and running his fingers over the symbol.

"Still a pertinent question for a historian no?" Sasuke spoke flatly. "You'd have thought you would have included it in your book."

"I did. I _did._" The man sighed placing the headband down. "But they wouldn't take it."

"_Who?_"

"The publishing committee." The man elaborated. "Of course it was something I included it child, knowledge about it was dying out everywhere and it was _such a shame_…" He sighed deeply.

"Why wouldn't they accept it?" Sasuke asked warily feeling like he was on the verge of something _big._ His instincts were screaming at him and an odd prickle had begun to play on the back of his neck.

"The Uchihas were such a sensitive topic five years ago." Fukanara wheezed and ice formed in Sasuke's stomach. Firudo _hadn't _been lying. "I tried to protest, it was our _history. _It was our culture but they told me edit my work."

"Sensitive topic?" Sasuke repeated. He did not remember anything like this, but then again he would have been small. "You mean there was nothing about the Uchiha being printed anywhere?" Well that was majorly suspicious.

"Yes." The man sighed. "Not a single mention in any book. It was the same time as those _awful rumours as well._"

"What awful rumours?" Sasuke's voice was pure ice and finally the man looked up from the headband. Then he seemed to recognise Sasuke's family and the man went rather pale.

"I meant no disrespect Uchiha-kun." The man spoke warily, "Merely recounting history."

"_Tell_ me what the rumours were." Sasuke ordered. "I don't _care_ if you meant disrespect or not."

"I-" The man stuttered. "I'm not sure I should."

Sasuke's temper snapped. He stood up abruptly, stool clattering back, eyes blazing scarlet.

"_Tell me!"_ He roared at the man trying to shrink in his chair.

"Just…just that the Uchiha were planning a coup." The man rushed the sentence hurriedly. "It was all rumours though! There was nothing proved and it was deemed a vicious slander afterwards by the Hokage himself!"

"_After the massacre?" _Sasuke's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Yes." The man confessed miserably.

"Thank you sensei." Sasuke murmured. "You have been very helpful." In a daze he put the stool back and walked out ignoring whatever the man was calling after him.

The only traitor amongst the Uchiha had been _that man._ It was inconceivable that the _entire _clan had been traitors to the village they had helped found. He staggered out of the nursing home and into the raging rain.

But then why were there rumours and _why were the Uchiha omitted from every single book at that time? _The way the man had spoken, the knowledge about the symbol had been common knowledge before, it was only the secrecy in publishing that had erased it from public knowledge. As far as he knew Sasuke's generation had no clue at all!

He also did notice the Hokage had done _nothing _to stop the rumours before the massacre. It might have been that the Hokage had planned to do nothing until Itachi forced him to admit they were lies. Otherwise people might have interpreted that as traitors being executed by the village heads and panicked. His admittance that the Uchiha had been loyal sealed the doubt on Itachi being a traitor to both the village and his clan. Of course the Uchiha had been loyal! The Hokage had merely stepped in to spare Obito and Sasuke the suspicious eyes of the villagers that they were traitors too and that their coup had failed if the rumours hadn't been quenched.

Maybe he needed a second opinion on all of this weirdness.

…############################################################...

"Rumours that the Uchiha were planning a coup?" Naruto stared at him from his bed hugging his knees to his chest. Sasuke shut the door firmly, he'd have to fill Sakura in later she wasn't at Obito's at the minute. "And please stop making my carpet wet."

"Obviously it's a lie I know." Sasuke flopped back on the bed suppressing a chuckle at Naruto's indignant shriek. "But what the hell could have caused it?"

"Hate to say it but your family." Naruto intoned gravely. "Wasn't the most social or pleasant of people dude. It took them _years _to get used to me."

"Hey I liked you from the start." Sasuke protested, the two pseudo brothers lying side by side on the bed.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah only because Obito-nii kept dragging me around to yours and stuck us together as we were the same age. _You_ had no choice."

Sasuke shrugged wetly. "It counts." He grabbed Naruto's ankle with a wet grip and yanked. "What do you mean I was forced into liking you? If I didn't _choose _to like you I still wouldn't talk to you regardless if you were the other survivor of the massacre or not!"

Naruto crashed off the bed swearing. At the last minute he hooked his leg around Sasuke's knee and brought Sasuke down with him. The two of them wrestled on Naruto's floor yelling and punching causing piles of magazines and objects to fall off the shelves adding to the din.

It was good to know he could rely on Naruto.

**Leave a review on the way out? Next up is Naruto's arc!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I finished one of the sub arcs for this Naruto arc! So I thought I would put it up while I write the second one. This fic now has a tv tropes page! Massive thanks to the people who set it up and filled it in, if any of you would consider expanding the page after reading then massive thanks to you as well. These two sub arcs will all be from Naruto's perspective and now things start to get serious.**

"Uchiha-san." Haruno Aisa nodded at him, not commenting on him being there, as she slid into a seat next to her daughter. "Sakura."

Obito laced his fingers together and inspected the woman. Perhaps it was a mistake to have Sakura witness to her mother's emotional distress especially after the pounding her guilt had given her.

"Sakura." He murmured. "I changed my mind, I think the boys have something to tell you."

Aisa's head snapped to the side, green slits sharp and displeased. "Do not dismiss my daughter so easily shinobi-san. I came to talk to her, _you _are the guest here."

"Mother." Sakura said, voice dull. But her chair scraped anyway as she stood up. Aisa shot her a startled look and Sakura shook her head. "Forgive me."

"Sakura?" Aisa asked sounding slightly confused. "What have you done that requires me to forgive you?" She stilled dangerously then switched all of her focus to Obito. He would admit that if Sakura inherited even half of her mother's intensity, she would terrify most of her opponents.

"You." Aisa whispered and the word sounded like knives coated in silk. "Why are you here?"

Wordlessly Obito passed the form over to the woman, spinning it at the end so Sakura's signature was clearly visible. Aisa didn't touch it.

"Last time you were much more subtle with your scheme Uchiha-san." Aisa's stare didn't waver from Obito's own dark eyes. "I am not touching _anything _a shinobi gives to me, tell me what the paper says or I set it on fire."

"Mother." Sakura interrupted quietly. "It's safe. Please, read it." In a show of faith she picked up the document and held it out to her mother who regarded her evenly. Very slowly her lips parted a fraction and her eyebrows pulled together slightly.

"Child." Aisa breathed. "What have you done?"

Sakura's hand shook.

"It was going to help him." Her voice trembled. "That one of his charges was willing to become his ward even after such accusations."

"Your heart will tear you apart one day." Aisa's voice was the faintest Obito had ever heard it and the Haruno matriarch reached up to take the document. Immense guilt solidified into a stone alongside the anger and self-justification curling his stomach.

"I didn't mean anything by it!" Sakura cried, hands wringing as if she wanted to twist something apart. Aisa's mouth hardened and she nodded.

"Did your team talk you into this?" She asked. "Did they poison you with nonsense that civilians cannot understand or support shinobi children? You are _my _daughter. That will never change regardless of whatever filth ninja prejudices spew."

She stood up and Obito watched her coolly, sure that she would not leave without confronting him.

Haruno Aisa pressed her lips to the top of Sakura's head. Sakura shook like a leaf and it did look like she was going to cry.

"This changes nothing in our relationship." Aisa spoke into pink hair. "You are my child, I am your mother. We continue as we've always done. Understand?"

"Yes mother." Sakura hugged her tightly around the waist and her mother released her pushing her slightly towards the exit.

"Now." Steel had snapped back into the Haruno matriarch's tone as she turned on Obito. "I have to admit your daring is both infuriating and admirable. I helped to give your team time to save you and in gratitude you steal my daughter under the eyes of the law? Stabbing someone in the back is not a way to say thank you Uchiha-san."

"I played no part in the tragedy." Obito spoke simply resting his chin on his hand. "Sakura thought what she thought was right."

"You have manipulated my daughter!" Aisa spoke fiercely. "You have disliked my custody of Sakura from the very start and taken advantage of her lack of father figures to ensure that she couldn't bear to give you up. No _worse. _You taught your kids that principle and they have taught my daughter."

"You are not suitable to take care of a child." Obito's voice was iron. "A child cannot be left for _weeks _while they fend for themselves. Have you ever heard of emotional neglect Haruno-san?"

Aisa's eyes went wide with utter fury. "What did your mother do Uchiha-san?" She asked suddenly.

"She was a trained Jonin." Obito barked back.

"But _what did she do_?" Aisa repeated, almost snarling the words.

Obito opened his mouth but the woman spoke over him. "Let me guess." Aisa laughed without humour. "She stayed at home, took care of you, cooked your father meals and kept the household running. And if she ever did work it was when your father was injured or if there was an emergency."

The analysis was spot on correct. Obito narrowed his eyes. "What of it?"

"Oh you clan-born." Aisa spat the word, fingers drumming on the table. "Taking such privileges for granted. How nice it must be to have ancestral money so that a household doesn't need two full time job holders. How _nice _it must be to take a mother's presence for granted because your father could die any day."

She leant forward, eyes melting pots of rage. "My husband _died. _If I stayed at home and took care of Sakura we would lose the house and be penniless in a month. I did what I had to raise my daughter because I had no other options! I would rather my daughter missed her mother and be alone for weeks rather than her having no place to live with debts over her head."

Obito should have felt sick but all he felt was empty.

"Then I will take your daughter." He said simply. "When you are gone, and cannot provide her with what she needs. Do what you need to without any worries that your daughter is in danger."

A black, cold hatred shone in Aisa's eyes and Obito knew the woman was torn between despising him and considering Sakura's wellbeing.

"I am her Jonin sensei." Obito said simply. "I have a duty of care and protection. I take that duty _very _seriously Haruno-san."

"You are interfering in matters where you are not wanted." Aisa tilted her head, green boring into black. "It is beyond insulting that after a few weeks you think you can take my daughter away from me."

"I am _not-"_

"Yes you are." Aisa interrupted. "You may not notice it but_ all _Nin look down on civilians. You will teach Sakura subconsciously that I will hold her back. Will never understand her. Will limit her opportunities because I _belong to a different world. _Look at the women born and married into ninja clans Uchiha-san; are they not being wasted? Did they go through so much, only to rely on family money and raise the next generation? I say _your _ninja prejudices will hold back my daughter far more than I ever will."

"Nohara Rin. Yuuhi Kurenai." Obito's voice was pure ice. "Senju Tsunade."

"Unmarried. Unmarried. Unmarried." Aisa countered. "All your ferocious women have a pattern Uchiha-san. Wake up to the reality of things."

"We are a mercenary village." Obito stated flatly. "Having both parents killed is utter stupidity."

"Then why let women join your trade?" Aisa shot back. "You acknowledge they have the talent; are liberal enough to let them gain positions of high ranks and power but the instant one has a child her options are limited."

"Orphans are not our aim here!" Obito protested. "And once the child is grown the woman goes back into service."

"After eighteen years of inactivity." Aisa's voice was flat. "Tell me the percentage of women who go back and the percentage of women who actually survive long enough to retire."

"We are getting very off topic." Obito raised a finger.

"I agree." Aisa nodded. "If you want to keep my daughter safe I will not begrudge you. But when I come back I will take her back."

"Family comes first." Obito said raising his glass in a mocking toast. The woman who hated him twisted her lips into an ironic line and raised her glass slightly.

…..######################################################################...

Naruto blew out of his mouth so that an annoying piece of hair hovered in front of his eyes. If he was in the right mood the current scenario would have been amusing.

"What do you mean there's a conspiracy around your family?" Sakura asked disbelief staining her tone.

"Exactly that." Sasuke sniped back. "Apparently five years ago, all publications on the Uchiha were wiped out and there was a total blank in writing history." He paced up and down the messy room. Sakura leant back in a sofa, eyebrow raised and Naruto flopped on a couch, legs dangling off the arm.

"Well that's easily disproved." Sakura shrugged slightly. "Library."

"Won't work genius." Sasuke said sarcastically. "It only lasted up to the time the massacre happened. That kind of publication blank can easily be covered up by now."

"Then how-" Sakura tilted her head.

"Some information wasn't replaced." Sasuke threw a book on the table, "I borrowed your book to check."

Sakura left the book where it was and instead folded one leg over the other. "What information?" She asked crisply. "And where did you find that?"

Naruto wondered idly how Sakura would take the fact that Firudo had been the source of that sapling of information.

"Hey does that talk about the history of Konoha?" He asked cutting in, pointing at the book. "Like clans and things?"

"Yes." Both Sasuke and Sakura answered. "Nothing new on Uzumaki I checked." Sasuke carried on shrugging apologetically.

"That's alright." Naruto smiled and plucked the book from the table. He knew Sasuke knew Naruto was unrelenting in his hunger for knowledge on his family and so would let the matter slide from his mind. Sakura didn't as of yet know him well enough to have alarm bells ring.

He flipped to the 'H' section as Sakura discovered to her displeasure that Sasuke had more lovely titbits of information slash lies slash leads from Firudo.

"Found you." Naruto murmured running a hand down the page to smooth out the edges.

_**HATAKE**_

_**Commonly referred to as the daiyoukai of their time.**_

_**This clan took their inspiration from the wolves and hailed from the forests of Konoha from before the founding itself. They share familial characteristics of pale hair ranging from white to very pale grey, typically very dark eyes and tall, slim builds. Hatake tend to excel in their chosen field, many prodigies have been born into this family and the leader of the Hatake clan during the founding, Hatake Kuroya, was hailed as the best of them all.**_

_**Take warning, they are still wolves under their skin and many tend to be odd and sometimes incredibly dangerous to their own allies. Legend is that they descended from the terrible inuyoukai that ruled over the forests centuries ago, the evidence for this lies in the dog contract handed down from parent to child on the child's fifth birthday.**_

_**Notable Hatake include: Hatake Kuroya "King of Exiles", Hatake Tsukiyama "Dead Eyes", Hatake Fukachi "Bridge Burner", Hatake Hiyori "Discordant", Hatake Sakumo "White Fang" and Hatake Kakashi "Anomaly". **_

Just to check Naruto flipped to the Uchiha section.

_**UCHIHA**_

_**One of the founding clans of Konoha; Uchiha Madara along with Senju Hashirama signed the peace treaty and settled the great village where it was and still is today. Originally a nomadic warrior clan, one of the fiercest families ever to take part in the clan wars. Familial characteristics include dark hair, pale skin and the famous dojutsu, the Sharingan.**_

_**Madness and brilliance are mixed in the clan children and many prodigies have burnt out after leaving legends behind. More recent events include the disastrous massacre of the clan down to two kinsmen.**_

_**For more information on the Uchiha, turn to page 342 for the Uchiha chapter.**_

_**Notable Uchiha include: Uchiha Madara, one of the "Twin swords of the morning"; Uchiha Izuna, the other of the "Twin swords of the morning"; Uchiha Karasu "The three eyed crow"; Uchiha Mikasa "Dust and Ashes"; Uchiha Yuri "Honourless"; Uchiha Shishui "Shunshin no Shishui"; Uchiha Obito "Blood-born" and Uchiha Itachi "Shadow Crow".**_

His over imaginative imagination kicked in. Silhouettes of fearsome warriors appeared in his mind both Hatake and Uchiha, black against the raging destruction they had caused. He shivered, goose bumps prickling over his skin at the sheer thought of the collective power they would wield.

He was still really curious how Obito-Nii had earned the title of 'Blood-born', the man had always laughed nervously and changed the subject every single time they had asked. He was always ready to tell the story of how Rin had earned her nickname of 'Gale-force' by harnessing a tornado in the middle of combat but never how he had earned his rather more morbid nickname.

He closed the book with a slight puff of dusty air, eyes closed. When he opened them again they fell on the Jack in the Box upon the mantel piece and his mouth tightened into a grim line. He didn't believe it. Oh sure he had played along with the entire forensics department when the results had come back as Hatake DNA and Obito-Nii's unwavering belief but Firudo _was _Kakashi, he was nearly sure of it.

That dog contract the man had signed was a familial one and one so old it was more of a birth right than an heirloom. He did not believe that in one generation as an outsider Firudo would be able to gain the dog clan's trust and affection enough to claim them as his own summons.

But…maybe their view of looking at it was too narrow. Could Hatake Sakumo have had siblings or other family who had turned traitor before…or just never settled in Konoha to start with? The book suggested that the Hatake were a proud clan, how likely were they to have just _one _line of descent?

"We need the Hatake genealogy records." He said so abruptly and out of the blue that Sasuke and Sakura briefly stopped arguing and stared at him.

"Are you still hung up on that?" Sasuke asked warily. "He knowing your parents was a trick."

"This isn't smart Naruto." Sakura frowned, face twisting with worry, "He's been pleasant _so _far, but he's a missing Nin. He might decide to really kill us if we get too close to his secrets."

"Pleasant." Sasuke scoffed into his fist. "Define 'pleasant'."

"Indulgent." Sakura corrected herself. Thunder shook the window frames.

"You don't get it do you?" Naruto asked and he saw sharp lights flicker in his team mate's eyes as both their minds fully locked on to his words. "Sasuke just went and took out a major branch of a very illegal business. The _only _people who can now talk about it are in this room, Obito and Firudo; we won't spill of course but now _he _has massive leverage over Sasuke. If he threatens to spill the fact that Sasuke was responsible or even that Team 9 was involved to his previous employers we have to comply with whatever he wants. _Immediately. _The power of blackmail he just gained is exponential; we _cannot _defend ourselves from Chan'neru if they decide they want revenge."

"Shit." Sakura breathed, colour draining from her face.

"So your solution is to gather blackmail on him." Sasuke paced up and down tersely. The corner of his mouth quirked. "Eye for an eye."

"Basically." Naruto shrugged. "Firudo _is _a Hatake I don't _care _what he says. Just go with he is Kakashi for the meanwhile, contrary to all the evidence."

"Do you-" Sakura started to ask.

"Of course I have a plan." Naruto finished waving a hand. "I thought this through first before telling you guys. Sakura grab the team photo out of the frame would you then break the frame on the floor. Sasuke punch me."

Sakura shot Sasuke a look who shrugged. That translated to 'go with it' and a searing pain exploded through Naruto's cheekbone as the dark haired boy slugged him across the face.

"What next?" Sasuke asked calmly as Naruto swore and rubbed at his cheek. "Shall I punch you on the other cheek too?"

Don't sound so eager Teme." He muttered stretching out his jaw. "Operation Oscillation is go!"

The dramatic words fell woefully flat and Naruto drooped.

"Operation Oscillation?" Sakura asked blankly over a pile of glass shards, tucking the picture into her pocket.

"Shifting of power between us and Firudo." Naruto muttered dejected. "It's going to swing to the middle again and oh forget it, just go with it." He kicked a stacked pie of trash Sakura had sorted when she had first moved in so that it collapsed everywhere. Sakura's eye twitched but she said nothing.

"Right I need you to have an argument guys." Naruto carried on. "While I talk to Iruka-sensei."

There was a slight pause.

"Naruto." Said Sakura sweetly, rotating her hands in a spiral. "Do you want to start explaining the plan any time soon?"

….#############################################################################...

"Iruka-sensei you have to help me!" Naruto gasped dripping wet at the counter at the Hokage's tower. The Mission chunin all sent blank looks to the part time Academy Teacher who stared at the panting genin on the other side of the desk. Then his gaze shifted from the blond to the arguing duo behind him.

"I can't deal missions when your sensei isn't here Naruto." He said calmly. "How have you all been?"

"No, no, it's not about that." Naruto panicked playing the part of distressed genin. "We were practicing and a stray kunai hit sensei's team picture and now the picture's ruined."

The other chunin sucked in a sharp breath and Iruka's eyes went wide. The team picture was often sometimes all what a person had left of their team, to ruin it was like attacking a person's past.

"For heaven's sake, you're meant to be the genius." Sakura snapped, fire in her tone. "How on earth did deflection of kunai not occur to you?"

"Maybe if you hadn't sent me a _wall _of them I might have been able to think it through without dying in the process." Came the equally terse answer.

"Ah calm down." Iruka looked at the clearly 'distraught' boy. "There are negatives in the archives, it can be replaced. Now what all of you was very foolish children, you of all people should know how precious memories are to a ninja."

"Exactly!" Naruto pounced. "Memories! If we just print off a new copy that seems like we're cheating everything the old Team 7 went through by removing those memories from the picture. So we were thinking there should be four copies in circulation now right?"

"Right." Iruka nodded warily.

"Well we ruined one." Naruto counted off. "Rin's got hers. Do you know where the other two are sensei? I think Obito-Nii might appreciate a picture from his old team mates far more than a brand new copy."

"Hmm at least you've thought about how to make it up." Iruka murmured, head dropping into hands. Naruto repressed a victorious grin. "Yes that might work, obviously the Fourth's things are not to be touched but Hatake-san's picture you can have…well there's no law against it."

"Oh don't worry about remembering where it is exactly." Naruto cried, leaning over the counter, purposefully making himself seem smaller than he was. "We'll go find it! It kind of should be our responsibility anyway since…we broke it." His voice trailed off in the last few words.

Iruka sighed deeply and scribbled an address on a piece of paper. "As far as I can remember the Hatake family lived here. Kami, it's been ages since that clean-up operation. Aone-san, do you remember where the Hatakes lived?"

His co-worked hummed and tapped his lips with a pen. "No I think you got it. That's quite impressive Iruka, you weren't even a chunin at that time. Reports?"

"Yeah, Owl-san found a load underneath all of his paperwork from _years _back and dropped them off. I don't want to see his desk if he can have years' worth of documents on it to be honest." The two men tsked.

"_ANBU._"

"Anyway, the dangerous things were removed." Iruka turned back to an eager Naruto. The blond's eyes remained on the piece of paper like it was a dangerous weapon. "But everything else should have been moved either to the attic or basement. Just ask the family living there to let you view them."

"Thank you sensei!" Naruto chirped as his fingers closed on the paper. "You have _no idea _how much this has helped us. Let's go guys."

Almost instantly Sasuke and Sakura stopped arguing and like sharks scenting blood, their stares locked on to the paper.

"Hn." Sasuke allowed, dark eyes shining in appraising mirth.

"Devious." Sakura whispered to him as they walked out into the pouring rain. "That was _devious _Naruto."

"I am innocent of every charge." Naruto joked sounding offended. "Look at this face, it is the _visage_ of sincerity." He wiggled his fingers over his face and Sakura snickered.

Then they nearly walked into Obito coming up the steps the other way. The man raised an eyebrow at them flailing and trying not to trip and poked them back so that they didn't.

"Stay at home and write me a report." Said Obito cheerfully, hair plastered to his head and clothes drenched to his skin. "I completely understand how you interpreted that as walk around in the rain and scheme away in those adorable heads of yours."

"Are you going to stop us?" Sasuke asked curiously and his cousin looked like he was rolling his eyes.

"Am I going to stop them?" Obito repeated sarcastically. "Just be at home for dinner, we have to plan this party. Until then cause chaos… whatever. If in trouble use my influence to get yourselves out. Your mom's left already Sakura, she has a meeting in Iwa apparently?" He shrugged. "It kind of helps your stuff is already at ours."

"You had no intention from the start of letting me move out did you?" Sakura half groaned, half shrieked. "Even if I had, you would have just taken me back the second mom left."

"Hey cut me some slack, I was thrown in prison."

"That has nothing to do with the topic!"

"Of course it does. It shows people tend to accuse me on things that aren't true." Obito smirked at them. Toodle'o kids. Try not to get in trouble in Konoha."

"So." Naruto whispered to Sakura as she gaped after Obito's back as he leapt up the stairs. "Mystery now, revenge later?"

"Are you coming or not?" Sasuke's annoyed yell floated up to them from the bottom of the stairs.

…..#########################################################################...

"This is the house." Naruto confirmed after blinking rapidly to get rid of the water in his eyes so he could see properly for a second. The sky was dark and cloudy and the rain was like dark glassy curtains; it was kind of soothing actually. Thunder crackled overhead turning their vision white for a fraction of a second then almost immediately the heart shaking rumble followed it.

For the fiftieth time Naruto pushed his sopping wet hair off his forehead but it just fell back.

"I am _sick _of storms." He heard Sasuke mutter darkly.

"This is now a civilian house." Sakura said, hands on hips sounding rather flat. "I wonder if they still find rats nests made of shuriken or ninja wire. Let me deal with the civilians kay?"

"Please." Sasuke muttered shielding his eyes with his hand to actually take in the house. "Be my guest."

Naruto hung back slightly, hiding behind Sasuke as Sakura rang the doorbell. It was really important that prejudices didn't get in their way. Sasuke shot him a look and sighed before punching Naruto in the side for no apparent reason.

"Man up."

Hissing at his pseudo brother Naruto avoided the light from the doorway as it creaked open.

"Oh my Kami!" Came a scream from the shadow in the doorway. Instantly both boys had kunai in their fingers, left hand in front to defend from any unexpected attacks.

"Shinji! Get out the towels! We have abandoned puppies!"

How had they managed to miss a couple of drowning dogs? Naruto looked around feeling rather bad until Sasuke hit him with his elbow, eye twitching.

"She means us dobe."

"Ma'am-" Sakura said politely before she was yanked in by a large hand. Suddenly alarmed both boys stepped forward and in turn got yanked inside the house. Sasuke slid into position in front of the other two, kunai hidden at the backside of his wrist but still available if he wanted to use it.

Civilians were so obnoxious. Did they not understand sudden demands and loud noises like that were a really bad idea in a _ninja _village? Naruto's lip curled and his own grip on a kunai slackened. A rotund woman with jolly eyes and cheeks closed the door, smiling at them.

"Ah look at you all wet and cold. Don't worry children, my husband will get you some towels and we can discuss donations over warm tea. Doesn't that sound good?"

Naruto's jaw nearly fell open. Donations? Did she think they were younger than they actually were thanks to the rain? His shoulders shook trying to repress sniggers.

"Ma'am." Sakura tried again smile so thin it was a knife edge. "We would just like to have a look at the previous tenant's possessions. We are _not _here for donations."

"That immoral family?" The woman wondered in disbelief. "Are you here to get rid of their taint?"

"Immoral?" Sasuke tilted his head, drawing the woman's attention. In drawing her attention the woman saw Naruto and her eyes widened. Naruto merely added a wry twist to his small smile as the woman obviously struggled between two instincts.

"Yes." The woman hissed. "Those Inugami-mochi."

Those who have a dog god as a pet?

"It's awful." The woman raised a plump hand to her red mouth, "It's not appropriate for children so we had it covered up. I couldn't let my girls see _that._"

"Yes." Naruto spoke up suddenly. "We're here to fix that problem of yours. Didn't you submit a request a while ago?" He lied completely, scrunching his eyebrows pointing at the woman.

"Oh my." The woman gaped. "That was fast. We just gave it in two days ago. Come in, come in; I swear Miko get younger and younger these days. I meant no offence my lady!" She bowed hurriedly to Sakura who raised a hand to pull her back up while simultaneously looking to Naruto for confirmation of her role. He nodded back and Sasuke blinked having received the message as well.

A man strode in burdened down by towels, dark roots visible at the base of his blond hair.

"Shinji!" The woman warbled. "The Shrine sent a Miko!"

"That was fast." The man commented mildly, handing each of them a towel. "And very dedicated in this weather."

"Oh my god." Came a female voice from the doorway. A red faced girl stood in the doorway, book in hand and staring at Sasuke.

"He's a priest Seiko." Hissed the second girl giggling at her sister's face. Hmm this could be useful. But not now, he needed to get Sasuke used to the idea of not being immediately repulsed by such actions first, before he started to use Sasuke as a way to getting information out of people. Naruto put that on the 'to do' list.

"Girls." Their father said gently and they scattered laughing.

"Why don't you show us the problem?" Sakura said prompting the family as the woman just talked to her husband excitedly.

"Ah I'll get an axe." The man started to move- Sasuke handed him a sheathed machete. Both civilians stopped to stare. A laugh bubbled up in Naruto's throat at the utter nonchalant expression on the dark haired boy's face. Sasuke could may as well be passing the salt for all his expression. Of course Sasuke would want the comforting weight of a deadly weapon now and the civilian's faces were actually hilarious.

"Warrior priest." The woman breathed at last staring at Sasuke in a new light.

There was the shadow of something dark and very amused in Sasuke's eyes. "Sure." He shrugged. Shinji reached out and took the machete admiring the edge on the blade.

"I boarded it up." He said distractedly. "Look, I'll show you."

Naruto's eyes fell on a section of the wall where the woodwork was raised and more recent than the others. Inugami huh? The image in a book came to mind; a dog with black fur, a blood red tongue and a broken neck in its mouth. Why was he not surprised the Hatakes followed that cruel tradition?

Sasuke helped the man pry the last boards off revealing a perfectly kept shrine. Dust coated every surface and withered flowers but everything was in its right place.

"Why two nights ago?" Sakura asked quietly. "You've been living in this house for years."

"Well it suddenly started acting up!" The woman exclaimed, chest bouncing. "The Inugami went wild!" A chill ran down Naruto's neck; that was about the time Firudo had been in Konoha…

Kneeling next to the shrine he brushed some of the dust off the edge and completely picked up the small table everything was resting on. Shuffling to the side he coughed at the barrage of dust and wiped his watering eyes.

"It's evil." The woman murmured sadly.

A small trapdoor gazed up at them, edges worked seamlessly into the floor. With his kunai Naruto pried the lock off and when he forced it open the stench of rotten flesh and flowers was enough to make him gag and nearly throw up in his mouth.

"Back!" Sasuke immediately pulled him back and examined himself. Naruto knew what he would find.

A pile of decapitated heads and corpses of dogs cruelly driven to madness. Those dogs would have been buried up to their necks with a bowl of food and water left near it until they went mad of heat, thirst and hunger in a few days and suffered hallucinations. Only then would their heads have been cut off and prepared to evoke an Inugami.

"Take the corpses." Naruto croaked, hands clamped over his nose and mouth as if he was praying.

"_What?_" Sakura looked at him like he was crazy.

"Trust me, you do not want to hear the stories of Inugamis gone mad with bloodlust or boredom." Naruto said sardonically. "We get rid of all of them. Sasuke…do you mind…I'm going to pop out for a second." He was out of the room before Sasuke had even opened his mouth. Gulping in fresh air his stomach slowly settled.

Sakura came out to join him eyes shadowed.

"Alright?" She asked seriously.

"Sorry." Naruto breathed heavily. "But way too strong in there." He leant on the wall, closing his eyes.

"Take your time." She suggested. The corner of his mouth turned up.

"Ma'am." Naruto said without even opening his eyes. The civilian squeaked as he effortlessly pin-pointed her location. "There may be something in the old tenant's possessions tying the Inugami to this house-"

"Please take a look!" The woman urged them. Naruto grin was a weak shadow.

"You know, it really suits you to be in the exorcism business." She called after them. "Be proud young man and _fight! _Deny your nature!"

"She knows you?"Sakura hissed as they made their way up cramped stairs. Naruto's smile was bitter.

"Never met her before today." He pushed the attic door open holding his sleeve to his nose in case of dust.

"You two have so many secrets." Sakura muttered from behind him and he let out a bark of laughter.

"It's not funny you know." But she was chuckling too as she closed the door behind them. Scrabbling for the light switch Naruto found it and a strong lightbulb lit up bathing everything in a sterile white light. Boxes were stacked everywhere and white sheets covered larger pieces of furniture with one small dark window at the far end.

Naruto crossed the room in five strides and stared out of the window at the sea of lights and lamps visible through the watery darkness. His village was _beautiful; _whether in the day or in the night, they were a community. And that belief wasn't something he would let go of easily. Konoha twinkled back as if agreeing with his fierce sentiment.

"I'm going to be Hokage." He murmured to himself. He would protect this village to his dying breath if he had to. That was what it _meant_ to hold one of the highest offices in the land.

"Well Lord Hokage, want to help me scan these boxes?" Came a voice from behind him as Sakura snickered.

"Hah? Oh! Sorry." He ran over and plucked a box at random and sneezed immediately. Sakura laughed quietly as he kept sneezing shaking his head every time the dust rose off the clothes. Eyes watering he pushed the box away with his foot.

"I don't think today's my day." He croaked. "What's in yours?"

"Kunai." Sakura deadpanned. "A whole lot of them. And look they got creative." She held up kunai with serrated edges, small kunai the size of her pinky, kunai made of glass so clear he had to squint to see their edges and all of the other kunai had their gleam dulled by paint. The Hatake had really nice stuff, Naruto admired their deadly killing weapons from a distance.

It took them another twenty three boxes between them of clothes, weaponry, utensils and household stuff before they found anything interesting.

"Scrolls!" Sakura called pulling them out and rolling a few to Naruto.

"Any of them family trees?" Naruto asked as he scanned through the first scroll.

"Recipe." Called Sakura.

"I have no idea _what _this is." Naruto admitted after a few seconds.

"Toss."

He did so.

"It's a love poem dumbass." Sakura sounded like she was fighting laughter. "Kakashi's dad must have written these to his wife. Aww this is quite sweet actually."

"Are you telling me the 'White Fang' scourge of the sky, wolf-born and father of our own charming Kakashi wrote love poems to his wife?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Sakura tossed it back. "It's very sweet. Keep it, maybe we can use it to distract Firudo when we run away."

"Ha! So you admit there's going to be a next time?"

"Well the way you're going, we'll probably have one by the end of this week." Sakura muttered. "Oh…" She pulled out a heavy metal frame from the bottom of her box.

A handsome white haired man in ninja gear grinned faintly at the camera, arm wrapped around a beautiful pale haired woman who was laughing at something the man was saying. The trees were in full autumn and there was fire in the leaves and on the path the couple were walking on. It was a beautiful picture and there was a sense of contentment around both deceased adult's eyes.

"That's really sad." Sakura said. "And sweet. I can't believe the White Fang was a romantic at heart."

"What?" Naruto asked doubtfully. "That wasn't clear from the love poem?"

She sighed the sigh of a girl in admiration. "_He _arranged this picture Naruto. Look he's looking straight at the camera, she's not. It was probably given to her as a gift or something as a reminder of their time together. How _romantic._"

Rather alarmed Naruto stared at Sakura. Was she going to go all mushy? Would she squeal over handsome boys like annoying civilian girls? Oh please no.

"I can admire a bit of romance Naruto and still be a competent kunoichi." Sakura barked correctly guessing what he was thinking.

"I never said otherwise." Naruto squeaked scooting back a few inches away from that glare. What a strange guy Hatake Sakumo was: killed his enemies, sacrificed his pet dogs, was perfectly charming to his wife and committed suicide in front of his son.

Sasuke came through the door at that point looking rather green. He indicated he had left the bag outside and collapsed on the floor between the duo.

"Next time you can handle tangled up dog skeletons." He said. "What's progressed up here?"

"The White Fang was such a sweet guy." Sakura told him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "The same guy who racked up death counts in the hundreds every time he went on the field? The one who directly told the Sand Kazekage to his face that he was going to rip his spine out of his mouth for daring to declare war on Konoha?"

"See." Naruto waved. "He's just as sceptical!"

"Yes." Sakura glared holding up the picture and the love poem.

Sasuke whistled lowly. "It's always the vicious ones. But is that really all you've found?"

"Sadistic weaponry aside, yes." Naruto snarked, flipping through another scroll. "Oh how cute, baby writing."

"More poems over here." Sakura waved them in the air. "Goddamn that man could hold a beat."

"Well Iruka-sensei did say anything dangerous had been removed." Sasuke said doubtfully. "Maybe that included information on them as well. I mean love poems aren't exactly dangerous."

"Do not underestimate the power of love!" Sakura called out. "Come on have you never heard of the third daughter of the Kumo daimyo and the second son of the Tea daimyo and how their encoded love poems delayed the second war for three years?"

"Why only three?" Naruto asked, slightly interested.

"He got stabbed through the throat. It was _messy._"

"Well I doubt these are going to be encoded." Sasuke pointed to the poems dismissively. "…Even if we're dealing with the White Fang." He shared a look with Naruto. "These aren't likely to be coded right?"

"I don't know." Naruto picked up one of the poems again. "I mean it depends. He might have just hidden a dirty message in them or if Firudo decided to get here before us and leave something for us…"

"Okay." Sakura pointed with the butt of her scroll. "That's edging too much into too paranoid. He wasn't expecting to see us in the café. I really doubt he would have hidden a secret message in his _father's love poems to his mother _if he didn't have enough faith in us to find him in a _café._"

"Hn."

"Fair point."

"Guys." Sasuke said slowly. "In all of these boxes…have you actually found the team photo yet?"

Naruto blinked. They _hadn't. _That was weird, that was a harmless photo and it was incredibly unlikely that Kakashi had taken the photo with him when he had defected as he had disappeared straight from the field. So where had it gone?

"That's odd." He muttered pulling another box towards him and rummaging through that. "I haven't seen _any _pictures with Kakashi in them you know. Actually I haven't seen many pictures period."

"I don't think ANBU would have removed those." Sakura muttered flipping through another box. "Someone has been in here."

"Could have been Obito or Rin." Sasuke shrugged. "It's perfectly possible they came up here looking for clues when Kakashi ran off."

If what they were looking for was in Obito's office Naruto was going to laugh very loudly at first then kill someone. There was no point in searching through more stuff now; it wasn't very likely they'd find any blackmail material and Obito was expecting them back for dinner.

"Let's get back guys." He muttered gathering up the scrolls. "Take the parent's picture and the poems. And the corpses…this is the weirdest free shopping trip or whatever you call them I've ever been on…"

"Do I want to know what you want to do with those corpses?" Sakura asked dryly straightening out her knees.

"I doubt you do." Naruto smiled faintly. "But if you were interested, we're going to get rid of any residual spirit by digging up Hatake Sakumo's grave and placing the dogs with him."

Sasuke dropped the picture on Sakura's foot and she screamed in pain while choking on her spit.

"I love." Sasuke turned to Naruto. "I _love _how casually you said that."

**Leave a review on your way out and tell me what you thought?**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. From the last chapter I understand there might have been a bit of confusion over some of the Japanese names so I'll clarify them here:**

**Daiyoukai: Great demon**

**Inugami: Dog God**

**Miko: Shrine Priestess**

**Seiko: Name of one of the girls**

**Enjoy guys **

Obito had mysteriously found the ingredients to his favourite dinner laid out in the kitchen when he had got home after sorting out a multitude of paperwork.

"Those brats." He chuckled staring at the food lying on the chopping board, it looked like the chef had just walked out of the room to look for an additive. Something quite important must have happened for Naruto to completely forget he had been making dinner.

"How hard can it be?"

An hour later Obito spat out pieces of uncooked pasta from when the pot had exploded, scattering boiling water and pasta all over the kitchen. There was burnt sugar and flour on the counter top, _five _of the kitchen knives had broken when he had tried to cut up the vegetables and meat, mild smoke was pouring out of the oven and to add insult to injury there was a stain mark on the ceiling there hadn't been before. Apparently talent at boiling water to make field rations didn't quite translate to the kitchen.

"Ah…never tempt fate Obito." He scolded himself lightly. "Actually this is probably karma not fate."

The front door opened with a little click.

"Take out guys!" He yelled. "Don't bother coming in, just get something greasy and fast."

"You see, this is why sensei insisted on cooking at least one meal a day for us."

Obito straightened and turned to see Rin leaning against the door frame taking in the disastrous scene. She was smiling faintly as she took in the mess.

"Brought you some leftovers." She threw the packet in her hand at him. He scrambled to catch it and yelped until he put it down. It was _hot. _

"I mean it's not like I care if you guys starve or anything." Rin waved a hand pointedly not looking at him. "But I need to meet the girl of yours properly. Consider it a house warming gift for her."

Obito cracked the lid open, immediately the delicious smell of beef and stewed vegetables filled the air.

"Riiiiin!" He felt both simultaneously horrible and incredibly pleased. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"So you didn't disregard years of team work, friendship and trust built on the battlefield?" Rin asked sardonically raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"No!" Obito pulled off his apron with a sigh. "I remembered perfectly Rin."

Rin watched him with serious eyes. "Do you trust me Obito?" She asked suddenly, tone wistful. "Because I don't think you do. You'll smile at me and work with me and as you proved once, nearly die for me. But you won't let me do the same for you."

"I meant to be able to trust Konoha implicitly." Obito placed his fingers over his heart. "When that faith gets shaken, how do I know what other core beliefs to hold on to?"

"You're meant to trust me fully." Rin glared at him taking at seat on the counter, swinging her legs. "That is what it means to be a team."

"Ah…we haven't been a team in a long time Rin." Obito murmured leaning against the ruined oven. The last time they had worked together was the last mission they had ever done with sensei; after that he had fled to ANBU and she had retreated to the medic corps each too stuck in grief to think about bringing that grief together. But that _loyalty _had always been there, she had always looked out for him in between shifts and he had made sure she made it back to Konoha in one piece. Which was why he had reacted so badly when he had thought that loyalty had dried up.

"Two people do not make a team." He carried on noticing her slight flinch as he hit the nail on the head. Kami Team 7 of all generations had issues.

The door opened again. This time he came close to panicking, his kids couldn't see him and Rin being serious and nostalgic! That would make _them _panic about what would happen if they grew up.

"Cool it Dobeito." Rin growled. "We're not done, I'm staying for dinner and you can get over your ridiculous notion that because Kakashi left us, our team broke apart. We're still here aren't we? Really I don't know which one of us is stuck in the past Obito but it can't stay like this. We're going out tonight."

Obito valiantly managed not to choke. He was _not _stuck in the past…

"I have a party to plan." He croaked as Naruto poked his head around the door and started to wail about how Obito had ruined his kitchen.

"Obito-Nii!" The blond wailed. "I know I forgot about dinner but that doesn't mean you can blow up my kitchen in revenge!" Sasuke strolled around, took one look at the destruction and walked away, shoulders suspiciously shaking.

"I see." He heard Sakura whisper. "This is why Naruto has an iron rule of the kitchen."

"Pretty much." Sasuke answered.

"Out!" Naruto shrieked pointing at the dining room. "And you are so cleaning this up Obito-Nii! Hi Rin." He smiled suddenly pleasantly at Rin before herding both adults out.

The table had already been set when they were shuffled in like a couple of misbehaving pets.

"Did Rin save us from take out again?" Sasuke asked idly taking the pot of food from Obito. "You suck cousin."

"Oi brat." Obito flicked his forehead. "I'm not that bad."

"Obito-Nii you failed at _boiling _water and pasta together." Naruto didn't sound very impressed. "You're too much of a ninja, even your food is deadly."

There was a strange smell in the air; there was Rin's delicious cooking of course but then there was the incredibly faint stench of wet corpses. Every single shinobi who ever served as ANBU would be able to recognise it but what was it doing in his home?

He shot Sasuke, the most likely of his genin to handle corpses, a suspicious look. They hadn't exactly elaborated what the trio were up to when he had bumped into them earlier at the Hokage's tower.

"Smell something bad Obito?" His utterly shameless genin asked innocently. Utterly shamelessly and cornering Obito into a corner because if he answered yes Rin would think he was talking about her food. And he wasn't going to bring Rin into this if his genin were doing something illegal…maybe he did need to spend a little time with his team mate again. It was entirely possible that due to them not working together anymore their trust in each other had dwindled until he trusted Gai more than he trusted her.

"Sakura-kun." Rin greeted the pink haired girl. "It's nice to meet you properly. I didn't get the chance to introduce myself properly at the Academy or any time afterward. I'm Nohara Rin and I'm Obito's team mate from his genin days. Feel free to come to me if you need help."

"You make an excellent villainess Rin-Nee san." Naruto interrupted, dealing food to everyone's plate.

Sasuke nodded. "We really believed you had ulterior motives when you were giving us our test."

Rin's jaw dropped open and she looked torn between being flattered and disgruntled.

"You guys." She muttered. "Are _way _too gullible. You three can be forgiven…" Obito coughed into his fist and slid into his seat.

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura bowed slightly. "Look kindly upon me."

"Oh, oh." Obito pointed with his chopsticks. "New ward now."

"Ahh!" Rin exclaimed. "Wait…what? I swear you're not an orphan Sakura-kun?"

"She's not." Naruto muttered. "Her mother's scary."

"How does that work?" Rin's eyebrows pulled together.

"Turns out a combination of Clan adoption and Jonin sensei authority can override parental rights." Obito shrugged, "Who knew? It's complicated."

Haruno Aisa had threatened him with a mother's wrath if he had allowed any harm to come to her daughter which he could have averted. He took a sip of his water. What an admirable woman.

"So we're throwing a party for my new ward, Sasuke turning thirteen and them passing their exam." Obito continued casually. "Want to help?"

Now was one of the times having a reputation as a goofball off the field was useful. None of the Chunin or genin would even suspect that it was a trap for their abilities but some of the higher Jonin might be a little suspicious. If the entire village was invited then not only would they tend to group together in teams, his own team would have a chance to see how they interacted and get clues from their behaviour. He grinned into his glass.

"Not tonight though." Came from Naruto and Rin at the same time.

"We're going out tonight." Rin tossed her head back imperially and Sasuke seemed to have trouble swallowing.

"He finally got you on a date?!" Naruto exclaimed pointing dumbly.

This time it was Obito's turn to choke on his water. What did they mean by 'finally' those brats?!

"Umm no." Rin shot him an apologetic look, he waved it off still coughing. "I'm going to find Obito a girlfriend."

Sakura dissolved into giggles and hid her face, Sasuke and Naruto merely stared as if the idea was Obito dating anyone seriously was inconceivable.

"Couldn't you do it?" Sasuke asked petulantly. "It'll save us the trouble of getting to know another person."

"Baka!" Sakura elbowed Sasuke sharply, who wheezed, knocked into Naruto who was in the process of bringing his chopsticks to his mouth and the food flew off and hit the wall.

"Be a little more sociable Sasuke." Rin said clearly flustered. "One day Obito's going to get married and it won't be someone you'll know from childhood."

He mouthed 'Hell no' to his genin behind her back and their flabbergasted faces sold the idea that they hadn't really thought about it.

So either they had incredible faith that he could eventually win Rin over or they had just thought he'd stay single for the rest of his life. Brats. He sighed. He was so _not _looking forward to them hitting puberty.

"Oh." Naruto got out eventually. "Have…fun? We're just going to go out in a bit…may take the entire night…?"

"It's pouring bucket loads." Obito pointed out.

"Well you're going to go partying." Sasuke murmured just low enough to pick up. "Don't judge." Obito snapped his chop sticks together idly.

Sasuke choked more out of surprise than the meat in his mouth, at the beef piece that Obito had thrown across the table with pin point accuracy. There was the gleam of revenge in his eyes, Sasuke brought the butt of his own chopsticks down on the serving spoon and like a catapult launched potatoes across the table. Rin threw both her chopsticks.

The two slim pieces of wood pierced through every single potato flying through the air and stuck to the far wall quivering slightly.

She calmly broke another pair of chopsticks with a snap.

Too late.

Obito kicked the table, jolting Naruto's elbow as he lifted up his bowl and ended up splashing gravy on his face. Naruto remained still for a second as if he couldn't quite believe his dinner was on his face rather than in his mouth. Then a bowl was headed for Obito's head.

He ducked. The bowl would be fine, he had bought plastic ones after all the Uchiha crockery had been shattered at some point in the boy's childhoods. Meh the walls could be fixed. Sasuke reached and snapped Sakura's food right from her chopsticks as she was going to take a bite and chucked it at Rin who raised an eyebrow and threw Obito's plate at him.

He knew there was a reason he loved that woman.

Sakura blinked and smashed Sasuke's head straight into his plate by the back of his hair.

"I told you to get a different haircut." She said slightly vindictively. "That one's really too easy to grab."

"Says the _girl _with the long hair." Came the vengeful mutter before there was food and plastic crockery flying everywhere.

….############################################################...

"We'll be going now." Naruto waved at Obito and Rin who had stolen two chairs by the electric fire and sunk in like barnacles. There was still cream in Obito's hair and Rin's dress squished whenever she moved.

Sakura handled three spades and three lights all while staying a good distance away from Sasuke and his bag full of dog corpses.

"Are you two still going out to party?" Naruto pointed.

"No." Obito said at the same time as "Yes" from Rin.

"Who even throws a party in rain like this?" Naruto asked looking out of the window.

"Civilians." Rin smirked. "Who also don't have the training to remember who they invited to their party under alcohol and who they didn't. Go pick up a nice civilian girl tonight Obito, they like shinobi."

"No." Obito replied grinning. "Definitely not."

"I'll invite Genma, Asuma and all the others." Rin grinned from her couch. "It'll be awesome. I cannot believe I have to manage your love life for you Obito."

"You know what?" Naruto said hastily. "I'm happy for you two. I'll see you possibly tomorrow afternoon as I have a feeling you're both going to be too hungover in the morning to be of much use. Good bye."

"I still want that report Naruto!" Obito called after him.

"Get out of that shinobi mind-set for one night!"

"Ow! How did you hit me from over there?!"

"He's like a teenager whenever she comes around." Sasuke said a slight trace of fondness in his voice.

"Please can we contrast Firudo with those two?" Sakura whispered. There was a pause before all three of them burst out laughing.

"Right." Naruto took a spade and a torch from Sakura chuckling. "Let's go guys."

….#######################################################################...

"This is going to suck." Said Sasuke, rain turning him into a dark silhouette.

Sakura silhouette had already tripped over a dozen pavements. There was no point in trying to wipe water out of his eyes, it was like a river was falling from the sky. Sasuke caught Naruto by the shoulder and spun him around.

"Let me get this straight. You want to dig up a grave in _this _weather?" He had to be shout to be heard.

"Yes." Naruto yelled back. "Because in any other weather the graveyard will be watched; there's no way ANBU are going to think a couple of idiots are going to dig up a grave in this weather and guard it when there's other more important points to guard."

"I wonder why!" Sakura yelled at him almost drowned out by the rumble of thunder and the brilliant flash across the sky. "Aren't all corpses burned?"

"Not traitors or failures." Sasuke answered. "It's to keep their souls from getting peace. Charming I know." He held the shovel above his head to hold the rain off his eyes. "We're almost there, but it'll be muddy as hell from the next turn."

Konoha was dark and wet at this time of night, the roads collected dark water at the sides and the drumming of the rain on stone and wood was very soothing.

Naruto's foot sank almost up to his ankle after the next turn.

"Yeesh." He pulled it out with a squelch, the cold mud feeling slimy on his skin and toes. _Why _did they have open toed sandals again? Oh yeah, a thing called chakra. He hopped on top of the mud, taking what seemed like weightless steps aided by chakra.

Sakura leapt past him gracefully and leapt onto the top of the low wall that separated the traitor's yard from the rest of Konoha.

"Why is he even in here?" She asked lowly looking at the cramped multitude of graves. "The White Fang was a hero."

"Committing suicide is a failure." Sasuke spoke grimly, hopping over the wall himself and landing in a crouch. "Near the end of his life he was shamed and the fact he took his own life was enough to put him in here. Apparently he made a really big mistake that could have lost them the war. No one really knows much though."

Without saying anything the three of them split up to find that one grave. Naruto strolled down a row of messy, dog eared stone posts scanning the names and stopping when the name was especially worn or unclear. So if all the heroes of the village ended up on the memorial stone, this was all the failures were. Or the ordinary ones that succumbed to weakness, or the ones that hadn't done enough to be honoured so highly. And then there were the obsidian graves marking the missing Nin, the shame of the village laid clear for future generations to see. A warning that death caught up to everyone.

How sad. He shone his light around trying to find anything that could help him but the beam of light illuminated only rain and worn stone. Then he stopped and jumped closer to get a closer look at one of the graves. That…was a clan symbol. The Aburame scarab was faint but it _was _carved into the grave. He checked the next one; some Inuzuka. Yes! The three headed dog was visible.

Great. What was the Hatake clan symbol? He thought back to the book and closed his eyes.

A white crescent moon.

He started to run on top of the mud, sliding where necessary to scan the symbols on the graves.

He finally found it ten minutes later and slowed to a halt.

Hatake Sakumo's grave was utterly ordinary and hid the fact that the body of a brilliant shinobi lay under it. How dull…it could have been the grave of a civilian for all the decoration on it. His nickname and accomplishments were written on there though…that was strange…none of the others had any detail on the people other than their names.

He spun his torch towards the sky and rapidly flicked it on and off mentally apologising to the spirit of the man.

Holding his torch between his teeth he stuck his spade into the mud and used his sandal to wedge it in properly. His back muscles protested when he picked up the heavy load and deposited it on the next grave. His fingers were slippery and his grip kept shifting so that the movement required more energy than usual.

Two other spades sunk into the mud next to his. Shovelling earth when it was dry was hard enough; when it was wet it didn't want to be lifted from the ground at all and he had to put his all in just to get the mud to squelch and let go of the surrounding mud.

Sweat ran down his back as the pile of mud grew bigger bit by bit. People underestimated how tiring work like this was and to his estimation they still had several feet left to dig. As they dug the hole filled up with water soaking them to their thighs, it was freezing and it stuck their clothes to their skin and helped the mud to latch on like vicious leeches.

"Hold on." Sasuke leant on his spade. "Get out of the hole."

When they were out he flung a few exploding tags in the hole. Naruto's eyes went wide-

_Bang!_

_SPLAT._

There was a semi spherical crater in the ground, deepest at the centre where the corner of a coffin peeked through. Mud and water coated the graves, them and ground for at least ten feet around the crater from top to bottom and he spat out some of the vile gritty stuff.

"They did say mud was good for the skin." Sakura snarked, wiping at her eyes only succeeding in leaving muddy finger sprints on her face.

Naruto jumped back in before the water could refill the hole and used his fingers to clear away the mud from the edges of the coffin. Grave digging was actually quite boring now that he was actually doing it. And a lot of hard work if they hadn't cheated.

Sasuke ran a kunai down the seam of the wood and Sakura used hers to pry the nails out. The bag of dog corpses lay by them, looking more like a lump of mud than anything.

"Remind me." Sasuke said lowly. "Why are we actually doing a miko's job?"

"One." Naruto said through gritted teeth, fingers aching as he excavated out the coffin inch by inch. "To cover our tracks as lying about being priests and two, who knows we might find something interesting here."

"Ready?" Sakura asked and together they snapped the lid off and slid the heavy lid to the side. Naruto tensed prepared for another foul smelling skeleton.

Silence.

"Guys." Naruto spoke into the horrified silence. "Are we _sure _Hatake Sakumo committed suicide?"

An empty coffin stared back under the dark sky, slowly filling up with rain water as they stared.

…..##################################################################...

"Sasuke slow down!" Sakura called. "We can't see you if you get too far ahead."

Filling the grave back would take Naruto's clones at least a few hours and they didn't have that much time to spare to do it themselves.

"Hurry up!" Sasuke snapped stopping for a split instant. He strode down the street, spade over his shoulder, mud sticking in his hair, clothes and skin until he looked all one shade of blurry brown. Naruto and Sakura weren't much better.

"Where are we going?" Sakura hissed to him and Naruto shrugged.

Suddenly Sasuke stopped outside a care home and walked in, wiping at his eyes and face.

The history sensei! Inspiration hit Naruto like lightning. Oh that was clever. Except it was about two in the morning. There was no way the receptionist was still there-

The receptionist was still there.

Naruto's eyebrow nearly rose off his forehead. Correction the receptionist was asleep at her desk but still in work uniform. The rain had probably stopped her from going home as he couldn't see an umbrella anywhere.

Sasuke rapped on the counter and she woke with a start in the dark lobby. Considering the first thing she saw was Sasuke's silhouette with a spade over his shoulder; it wasn't very surprising that she panicked.

"It's me." Sasuke frowned. "I came by earlier, have you forgotten already?"

"Student-kun!" The woman said hoarsely like she couldn't believe what she was saying. "_What _are you doing here at…_two in the morning_?"

"I need to talk to Fukanara sensei." Sasuke said like it was a perfectly reasonable request to make in the middle of the night.

"What? No! It's two in the morning if you haven't noticed! Visiting hours were over hours ago. Come back later today! You mad man."

"It's urgent." Sasuke pressed, leaning on the counter.

"I really don't care Student-kun." The woman crossed her arms over her chest.

"We think his life may be in danger." Naruto lied impeccably seeing that Sasuke was getting nowhere. The woman froze.

"What?" She breathed. "Is that why the ANBU were around earlier?"

All of their ears pricked up.

"ANBU were here to speak to Fukanara sensei?" Sakura asked for a clarification shooting Sasuke an alarmed look. Naruto agreed…could Sasuke be right about a conspiracy around his family's past? Was that why ANBU had come to talk to the old man? Where ever he looked, he just found secrets wrapped in riddles hidden under the obvious.

"Yeah…" The woman scratched her jaw. "They said he needed more specialist treatment and moved him to another care home. So even if I had let you in you couldn't talk to him, sorry kid."

The woman was such an idiot. _Why _would ANBU handle something that mundane? It was a cover up. Naruto groaned out loud, he was _done _with secrets in his own village.

Sasuke was grinning. It was hot and fierce under the mask of mud and it lit up his eyes with a fire from the inside.

"Thanks." He walked back out, dragging both of his team mates by the elbow. "I was right. There _was _something strange that happened with the Uchiha five years ago. There is no other reason that ANBU would take him away."

The fact that ANBU had even taken him away was quite alarming. The village seemed to want to keep Sasuke in the dark and this repression of free speech and knowledge rankled at his belief of freedom. A more chilling thought occurred to him; how many others had just vanished one day when they had found something the village were determined to keep secret? It all hinted at one massive cover up. His jaw clamped tight.

"Kuso!" Sasuke swore at the sky.

"Does this mean," Sakura's eyes were wide with horrified realisation. "That Obito's head was actually Kakashi's head and that Firudo is _Hatake Sakumo!? _He would have so many reasons for getting revenge on Konoha if they shamed him…what if he blames us for his son's death?"

His head hurt and he dropped into an outside table at a café.

He had never even considered the ridiculous idea that Hatake senior was alive. But there had been witnesses to his suicide? A shock ran through his body. The only witnesses had been Kakashi and maybe the Fourth Hokage…the first would probably willingly act if his father had asked him to and the second…or maybe Sakumo had faked his suicide? Another shock ran through his body. The coffin had been closed, so it was a closed coffin burial…no one would have known if the coffin was empty if he had taken precautions beforehand.

And Firudo wore a damn henge so often they couldn't tell his age. And even when he didn't, there was that damn mask! _Kuso!_

"This is _stupid!" _Sasuke pulled at his hair. "The more we find out the more questions we have?!"

"Well at least the poems we have to bribe him with will still work even if he's Hatake senior." Naruto said. "And yes I can picture him telling the Kazekage he's going to rip his spine out."

"Bloody White Fang." Sakura seemed to be in shock. "We somehow made _the_ _White Fang _interested in us."

They just sat around that cute table staring into space mentally running through everything they had done, collectively coming to a decision to agree that Firudo was Hatake Sakumo.

"At least we have some blackmail material on Firudo now." Naruto said lightly. "Releasing the fact the White Fang is alive is quite significant."

…#####################################################################...

It took them five showers to get all the mud off. Each.

At about nine in the morning Sakura and Naruto dragged their futons to Sasuke's room, bleary eyed and red skinned from rubbing too hard. Sakura moved to lay hers on the floor when Naruto clambered on Sasuke's bed and leant against the wall with his blanket wrapped around him.

"Come on." He told her slightly surprised. "Lots of space." Sasuke pulled his legs up to clear a space for Sakura to sit.

"What the hell." Sakura muttered and did so, pulling her legs up on the bed. Naruto did notice the picture on Sasuke's table was missing and that there was a dent mark on the wall there hadn't been before. If Sasuke wanted to vent he would there to listen but until then he would give his brother time.

"We have three objectives." Sasuke held up three long fingers. "One. Do well at the chunin exams. Two. Find out about my family's cover up. Three. Do something about Firudo. In that order."

"If by well you mean not die and kill them all then I agree with you." Sakura yawned resting her cheek on her knees. Naruto snorted.

"Guys I think we should use a decoy." Naruto yawned, Sakura's yawn inducing one in him, making his jaw crack.

Sakura didn't reply having fallen asleep, sliding a bit so that she curled up like a cat.

"Go to sleep Naruto." Sasuke smiled faintly. "We can discuss ways to trick people afterwards." The sun hit his cheek and hair from behind giving it a brilliant corona.

"Yeah." Naruto closed his eyes. "I guess you're right."

He became aware again when a weight disappeared off the bed. He sat there in silence, eyes open just a fraction viewing the scene. Sakura was a weight to his left but his right side had just rumpled sheets.

Sasuke.

He opened his eyes fully blinking slightly at the afternoon daylight. The bathroom door was open and Sasuke was a dark shadow sliding back into bed and leaning his head against the wall, neck arched back to reveal his throat. He was pale and shaking, with slumped shoulders shadows under his eyes. He looked sick and tired and when thankfully he didn't notice Naruto was awake. Naruto closed his eyes again knowing that Sasuke wouldn't appreciate attention at this point.

What had the spirit made Sasuke do? An irrational fury ran hot under his skin that one of his ancestors had done this but saved them all at the same time, so he _couldn't _reasonably get mad. Naruto wasn't a stranger to violence; most people tended to forget he had lived through the Uchiha Massacre too and seen Sasuke's beloved older brother spin through the compound, sword flashing.

He hadn't told Sasuke but he had been in the room when Itachi had sliced Obito's parent's spines apart. The man had stood over the two corpses and coolly surveyed a frozen Naruto, red eyes mirroring the blood on his blade. Then he had turned and left without harming the blond. It had been one of the most heart stopping moments in his life.

How ironic they both lived through massacres at each other's home lands.

…###############################################################...

The rain let up sometime in the afternoon when they had been asleep. A rainbow cut across the sky when Naruto peered out of their window to admire the sight.

"Do you remember all of the codes and protocols?" Obito asked, sounding like he regretted listening to Rin. He was still in civilian attire, the smell of alcohol and petrichor sticking to him on top of his natural scent.

Sakura nodded leafing through the sheets of symbols and meanings on the dining table. "These are far too detailed for you to have come up with overnight while you were partying."

"Ah no." Obito pinched the bridge of his nose. "As I said Team 7 is the only one to have a veteran of the original teach the younger generation. These are the codes the First Hokage passed down and each generation has added to them and adapted them to be unique for their generation. For example I added this one."

"Protocol 21#star." Sasuke read out. "Sensei distracted by girlfriend. Permission from next highest authority to record the fight? Really Obito?"

"This is my favourite." Obito ignored him cheerfully. "Added by the Second. 'I don't care that giant trees attacking or that gravity is reversing. Stand on your head and go set them on fire you idiots.' Add your own when you have time kids. I'm sure you have a few."

"It starts tomorrow." Naruto said still looking out of the window.

"Oh yeah." Obito snapped his fingers. "Party tonight so try and get everyone drunk and too hungover to concentrate tomorrow. Alright? Best thing is with this timing, some of the foreign teams might come depending on how reckless or curious they are."

The door blasted open.

Gai?

Both Kurenai and Gai strode into the room. Obito blinked.

"Yo."

"The Hokage want-"

Gai interrupted Kurenai almost carelessly. "Rain's sent a message. I really think you should see it, take your team as well. I'm bringing mine."

Rain! Naruto shared a quick glance with Sasuke. They probably weren't happy with what they thought was the unfounded accusation that they kidnapped Hyuuga Hanabi. But Naruto _had _thought they would keep it to the Chunin exams to get their own back.

Obito held his fingers up in the ram seal and in a flash of grey and black their surrounding warped and fixed into the familiar environment of the Hokage Office.

"Ah Team 7. Kurenai. Gai." The Hokage's feathers weren't ruffled in the slightest as he handed a document to a flash of shadow. Team 9 sat stiffly in chairs by the wall, Lee looked like he was barely restraining himself from jumping up and greeting his sensei. Neji's blank eyes didn't move and he carried on staring straight ahead while Tenten smiled at them.

Kurenai pulled a chair over so she could sit and rest her arms on the back.

"Everyone is gathered Lord Hokage." She tossed her head imperially.

Finally the most powerful man in the village put his pen down and gazed at them over laced fingers. It was a kind gaze, like one a grandfather gave to his mischievous grandchildren. Naruto knew better, it was the exact same look the Hokage had worn when ordering Naruto to be locked up for a bit. Then he reminded himself it had been a test so maybe the look was actually genuine.

"I gather most of you saw the storms on our East am I correct?"

"No." Every single one of them commented.

"The island of Uzumaki was at the centre of an incredible outlet of power which manifested as storms, strange lights and according to reports left a pillar of ice behind." The Hokage carried on not missing a beat.

Sasuke and Team 9's eyes were absolutely rock steady.

"The whirlpools have increased in ferocity, the air is unstable and many local boats have gone under in an attempt to figure out what exactly happened a few nights ago. I'm sorry Naruto but your ancestral island is pretty much unreachable now. Not even shinobi have been able to safely set foot on that island."

Naruto ducked his head murmuring something that sounded appropriate. Had the Hokage made a link between the strange phenomenon and the two teams? Was that why the Head of Justice was there? But Gai had mentioned Rain?

"That's not all. A few hours ago we received _this _from Rain." The Hokage held up a jet black card between nimble fingers. He handed it to Obito to read out loud.

"_We did not take your child. No storm burns green. Bring the wronged. We have both answers. This farce of a peace is not worth protecting. Let's make it last this time. _And there's a date, passphrase and coordinates." Obito murmured flipping the card over to check the back.

"The Salamander sent that?" Neji asked drawing the attention towards him.

"The honourable Salamander was a poet." Gai answered his own student, eyes dark and thoughtful, "The writing is far too abrupt to be him. It is strange no? When was the last time we heard from Rain?"

"The war." Kurenai's voice was high and clear as a bell. "Hanzo must have fallen." Her hair fell like a sheet over her face, darkening the top of her face in shadow. "Rain is under new management now."

"Who _apparently _wants peace." Obito held up the card. "And has enough balls to invite I'm guessing all the major nations to a peace meeting. What a guy! Or girl."

"Is there any chance you might have been tricked?" The Third Hokage asked Team 9 and Sasuke quietly. Sasuke's smirk was curling and as sharp as the end of a poker.

"Yes." Instead of replying the other three nodded, fierce lights springing into their eyes. "It is far too easy to steal headbands." Sasuke continued, tone giving nothing away.

"Bring the wronged." Obito repeated flapping the card between his fingers.

Gai's teeth flashed. "They have answers they say."

"An official peace meeting." Kurenai's smile was a slash.

The four Nin seemed to be in on a conversation the genin had no idea of.

Rain wasn't happy with the peace they had at the minute, Naruto's throat was tight in anticipation and dread. Even more they suggested working together to combat groups like Chan'neru; this could change the structure of their entire _world._ And he wasn't sure if that was exhilarating or terrifying. A shiver ran down his spine at the sheer thought. Was this how the First had felt all the time with his dream of reshaping the world?

"You six are still genin and have been entered for the exams." The Hokage turned to the silent genin. "What is your choice?"

"You're willing to let genin go to international peace talks?" Tenten asked, disbelief and surprise thickening her question. Her arms were loosely crossed over her chest and all members of Team 9 sported some form of bruising on flashes of exposed skin.

"They asked for us Tenten flower." Lee grinned, wiping at the smudge near his mouth with the back of his hand.

Every single genin knew that they were all thinking the same thing.

Firudo had miscalculated.

His seal to provide automatic responses would never hold up against the questions of Rain. Then their secret that they had willingly worked with a missing Nin would be free.

Team 9 could not go.

Neji's mouth was grim and flat. "I refuse to go near the place where my cousin was almost kidnapped to." He said flatly. "It will just give them a second chance."

"That's quite a good point." Obito rubbed the back of his head, "I mean losing another Hyuuga…not the best of moves right now."

"You sure Neji?" Gai asked. "We can cover all of you."

"My clan is in a very delicate state sensei." Neji answered. "For the first time I am being seen as a potential heir to the Hyuuga. I _cannot _leave, it will undo all progress. I apologise."

"Oh." Said Sasuke. Who apparently understood what a huge deal that was. Naruto too had hysteric giggles bubbling inside of him that their attempts to save their sensei had ballooned into Neji being seriously considered for Hyuuga heir and rewriting history. He had no doubts that the clan would be going through major changes if Neji made it. He had _nothing _to lose.

"You want to lead your clan Neji-kun?" The Hokage asked like a grandparent interested in a favourite grandchild's answer.

"I believe I can do a better job than my higher born cousins." Neji answered. "We cannot stay static for generations."

Yes.

The world was going to change now whether any of them liked it or not.

"Yosh!" Lee fired a fist. "Then I will not go as well, my team mate needs me to enter the chunin exams to put up a good show!"

Tenten smirked, "Hell I never liked the Hyuuga, sorry Neji, let's go change their entire power hierarchy."

"I will run a hundred times around Konoha to prepare for the exams!" Lee yelled, dark eyes aflame. "If that is not enough, then a hundred times up and down the Hokage Mountain! We will not lose!"

They had a formidable opponent in the same room as them. He spied intense anticipation in the crease of Sasuke's slight smirk and a respectful wariness in the line of Sakura's sight.

Obito clapped Gai on the shoulder. "Well." He said disgustingly cheerfully. "It's nice to know other people have troublesome teams as well. Have fun with your visionaries."

"Yosh!" Gai screamed suddenly making Sakura jump. "My team, your youths are overflowing! This admirable dedication to each other has set your souls on fire! As your sensei I will support you in the path you have chosen; come and we will _break the exams_." His voice slipped into something far too threatening to come from a man in green spandex, a bowl cut and monstrous eyebrows.

Naruto smiled fiercely at the ceiling.

"We will go." All three of Team 7 said at the same time.

Rain had answers to Uzumaki. One of his _family _might be in that country. There was no way in hell Naruto was not going.

"Why am I not surprised?" Obito said cheerfully as it was Gai's turn to clap him on the shoulder.

"Very well." The Hokage laced his fingers together. "Obito, Kurenai gather Shikaku, Tenzou and I'm giving you official permission to reform four fifths of ANBU squad Kappa. You will be my escorts and send messages to all the nations that the chunin exams _will _go ahead and that attendance for the first exam will be compulsory for all teams already entered."

"Hai!" Kurenai and Obito disappeared in vibrations of shunshin.

Naruto raised a little hand. "How does that wo-"

"Compulsory Naruto-kun." The Hokage talked over him, "Gai it's a shame the full team could not be together but it's understandable."

"I'll go talk to Anko." Gai nodded and disappeared also. Everything was happening incredibly quickly, the Hokage was barking orders to shadows and the dark itself was moving around the office at the snapped orders.

It would be a mistake to say that Naruto wasn't excited.

**Alright so two game changers in one chapter, what did you guys think? Leave a review to tell me your thoughts?**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Ahh sorry for the delay guys, to make up for it, there's an extra 2k to 3k in this one and you get to see what Team 7 are like when they actually work as a team because they always end up getting separated one way or another.**

**By the way, bold writing in the story are the senseis talking in their own room and watching the view. **

The party that night took over four main streets.

True to word, the village had paid for it all; banners, food, drinks, lights and even set up game stalls to make some of that money back.

The loud party spilled over into open shops with people freely chatting and drinking. Light glimmered in the roofs with tables of food set out as necessary. Sasuke was at the centre looking decidedly uncomfortable as people wished him a good birthday and congratulations on becoming the official Uchiha heir. Obito ruffled his hair laughing uproariously at the expression on his face. Sakura got a lot of the attention as well as another Uchiha ward.

Naruto just laughed at them both and pretended he wasn't.

"Nephew." Hyuuga Hiashi loomed over the table they had been using a main base. His blank eyes were shaded and he was dressed in full formal gear, hands tucked into sleeves.

"We have something to say to you three." His face was just as grave and impassive as ever. "Thank you for helping saving my daughter. I will not forget it."

Naruto swallowed. Hyuuga Hiashi was a very intimidating man even when giving gratitude.

Sasuke stood from his seat, chair scraping back. He barely came to the man's chest.

"Family first." He said. There something wicked in the shape of his brother's mouth and Naruto saw Neji muffle a snort standing with his cousins in full formal wear. He imagined asking Sasuke to die to save his own skin and his stomach turned.

"Admirable sentiment" Hiashi declared and drew his hand out from his sleeve. "Happy Birthday nephew. Come visit us more often." He placed a wrapped box on the table, nodded to Obito and engaged the other Uchiha male in conversation.

Neji wandered up, hair pulled back and braided down his back. His eyes reflected the glimmering lights and darkness above them and looked like the night sky had been captured in them.

"You've moved up in the world." Sasuke offered smirking slightly. "Heir Candidate."

Neji's mouth was a line but the end of it quirked minutely.

"Both heiresses shamed themselves." He murmured. "I proved myself worthy of consideration. My only road is upwards or defeat. Happy Birthday Sasuke." He produced a little silk cushion. Sasuke stared.

"A place to rest that proud neck of yours when it finally bends." Neji said innocently. "We will fight in the exams cousin. You _and _your team."

"You're such an irritating guy." Sasuke said candidly as he accepted the gift. Neji's smirk lengthened and he placed a small make up pot in front of Sakura.

"So the mask you show the world never falters."

Sakura stared. "Thank you?"

"You're quite welcome." Neji said agreeably and handed Naruto a comb.

"I don't need to explain." The older boy decided.

"Really?" Naruto asked, dreadfully amused.

"Really." Neji said flatly. "It's a disgrace." And he walked off presumably to find his team mates.

Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Hanabi _didn't_ leave. They both looked the part of wealthy heiresses with flowers in their hair and expensive kimonos but their eyes destroyed the graceful, gentle appearance with their blank unreadable (frankly uncomfortable) gaze.

Suddenly Hinata swept into a bow, hand splayed on the back of her sister's head to force Hanabi into a bow.

"You have saved my sister." She spoke fiercely. "I cannotthank you enough and I am so sorry for all the trouble I caused you." She dropped further, hands on the ground and forehead touching the ground. The sight of the Hyuuga heiress kneeling so low in such a public place brought all of them leaping out of their seats.

Naruto was closest.

Laughing nervously he nearly hauled her back up before too many people saw.

"It's really alright." Sakura scooted around the other side smiling. "Ohayo Hinata-san, we should be thanking you for petitioning the Hokage to let Obito-sensei go."

"I was glad to help." Hinata smiled shyly. "Family first. Th-That's very admirable I think. I was very glad to hear about your cousin being released." Her eyes flicked to where Obito was standing.

Hanabi made a rude noise. "I don't think Nee-chan." She said flatly. "We have any business or any _right _to use that phrase." Her eyes had shadows under them Naruto noticed sadly as the little girl sent them a weak glare mixed with respect. "But I _will _pay you back cousin." She almost spat. "I won't be in your debt forever."

"What debt?" Sasuke asked irritated. "Are you in debt to the farmers to harvesting the wheat for your bread? Do you consider yourself obliged to the men who empty your trash? I did my job as a shinobi and elder cousin, there is no debt here."

"Are you going for the chunin exams?" Hinata asked clasping her hands in front of her gracefully.

"Yes." Naruto said noticing how the girl didn't ever let her gaze rise above his cheekbones. He smiled, "We'll see you there."

"It will satisfy my desire to pay you back if you accept my team's help for the exams." Hinata said, stutter mangling some of the words. "Whatever you need or want us to do I will talk them into it."

What an offer. _What _an offer.

If Neji intended to go all out against them then Hinata's Byakugan would be massively helpful in at least giving them warning. Also Team 8 was Rin's team…it was kind of nice that both Obito's and Rin's teams would work together.

"If you mean _teamwork_." Sakura's smile was thin. "Then I'm up for it." She shot a dangerous look at Naruto who was slightly offended. He hadn't even been intending to take advantage of such a generous offer.

"Don't slow us down." Sasuke offered, apparently still having doubts about Hinata's competence. Naruto hit him in the side with an elbow.

"Sounds good, depend on us and we'll depend on you." He smiled.

"Of course." Hinata bowed again. "I-I look forward to working with you."

"Well." Naruto commented when all the Hyuuga had walked away. "The Hyuuga we actually like and helped us is now trying to fight us and the Hyuuga who blocked us before is now trying to help us."

"Semantics." Sasuke muttered. "That silver haired guy is a pretty good medic, he's had about ten cups of sake and he's not in the least tipsy." He pointed to an older teenager in purple.

"No chunin jacket." Sakura murmured.

"Always take out the medic first." Naruto quoted Obito. "I'm more interested in that one, look the one with the scar across his ear. I would just hit him on that ear again if I faced him."

"He'd probably break you before you got close." Sasuke said bluntly. "Better aim for the groin to get his head to your level first."

….########################################################...

Obito walked into the Jonin sensei lounge and dropped into a sofa. His kids were in the chunin exams and he would be lucky if there wasn't an international incident knowing their streak. Then there was the mess with Rain.

He had seen Sasuke's face in that office; he had had no clue how Rain would have answers to the Uzumaki Apocalypse. Obito had thought the six of them had been the only survivors? Well he would get answers at the Rain Peace Talks; it was going to be _huge. _From what they had been able to pick up every single major kage, minor leader and their families had been invited. Obito himself had been ordered to catch up after the first task so his team had at least some support with them.

His ANBU mask was a dead weight in his pouch and underneath his dark cloak the white bone armour of the ANBU gleamed. The very uniform was sobering, a reminder of the depths he had sunk into in his grief.

"Have you heard my friend?" Boomed a voice.

"What is it I've meant to have heard?" Obito drawled as Gai flashed him a brilliant smile and dropped onto the sofa next to him.

"Anko has found a way to directly oversee our youthful teams as they compete." He said happily, loudly, so that everyone heard.

"Yeah?" Obito raised an eyebrow. "Shit load of cameras?"

"That's it." Gai's beam widened. Rin walked in at that moment, playing with a flower in her hair. She gave absolutely no sign of how much she had drunk the previous night.

"You." Obito pointed from his slouch. "Are trouble missy."

Gai's teeth shone in a good natured laugh.

"Do _not _blame me if you can't hold your liquor." Rin said breezily, taking a seat the very picture of grace and elegance. She crossed one of her knees over the other and laced her fingers over the top knee.

"Ohayo Gai. Lovely to see you again." She smiled beatifically.

Gai leant back minutely. "Have I done something to anger your flower of a teammate?" He whispered far quieter than Obito had expected him to be capable.

Asuma strode in before Obito could respond, the only Jonin sensei not to know Obito had been arrested. He was tall and sturdily built, a goatee marking his handsome features and a sash winding around his waist.

"Anko says hi." Asuma said. "Well actually she says 'go gargle shit motherfuckers, I'm going to fail every one of your teams' but hi is close enough." He held up a remote. "She also gave me the control for the cameras and there are lots of troublesome teams in there this time."

His eyes crinkled at the corners, strengthening his resemblance to his father.

…..#########################################################################...

"Hold it!" Naruto dug his heels in and grabbed both of Sasuke and Sakura's shirts as they ran down the street.

They skidded to a halt, just missing spilling onto a busy street as the lights turned green. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him.

"Him." Naruto pointed. "Him and her. Hinata told me about them." Across the street, view nearly blocked by the crowd of unfriendly looking Nin, a trio of sand pre-teens slipped into the crowded examination building.

The girl was striking no doubt; with her sandy hair in four pigtails and the great iron fan strapped to her back. The boy she was talking to had purple face paint and a hood obscuring most of his face, like his team mate he too carried something dark on his back and the last boy had hair so bright it allowed Team 7 to track them without much trouble. Like his team, he too carried a gourd on his back and something about the line of his mouth screamed danger.

"What did she tell you?" Sakura asked.

"He's like me." Naruto grinned, a ghost of a laugh bubbling in his throat. Hinata had been so confused, how had a boy from Suna have a similar structure of chakra networks as Naruto? Naruto didn't blame her, it was in times like these that the cover up of kekkei genkei didn't quite match up.

Both their demons gave them the secondary network but the Hyuuga minors had passed that off as Naruto's kekkei genkei for years, for the new boy to walk in and have the same secondary network had utterly baffled Hinata.

"Like you?" Sakura repeated, eyebrow raising slowly.

Sasuke groaned, not even bothering to verbalise his displeasure.

Sakura gazed back at the red haired boy in surprise. "You mean he's an Uzumaki? That's good isn't it?"

Sasuke groaned even louder and sent Naruto a baleful look. Naruto interpreted that as 'please can we tell her already?'. He sent one back: 'are you crazy? Drag her _more _into the ANBU's target zone?'.

"Guys?" Sakura sounded kind of irritated. "Is this related to Naruto's kekkei genkei? The one I can't know about?"

"Well." Naruto scrambled for words in an attempt not to irritate her further. "It's not that you can't know-"

"Pretty much." Sasuke spoke over him blithely. "Village secret. If you want to know, raise your status in the village." Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"How do I do that?"

"Become chunin." Sasuke pointed at the building and shrugged. "Do your best ne?"

…..#########################################################################...

**Rin: Oh look my kids are on time. Where on earth are yours Obito? It's almost time.**

**Obito: …I swear they told me they were heading off…**

**Asuma: *chuckles lightly***

**Obito: Oh I see them!**

Three small figures strolled into the crowded room. They were small and slim with slender wrists and bones and tapering fingers perfect for wrapping around knifes. Like little birds.

Naruto had a perfect view of them from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Are we really that small?" Sakura asked in a shocked whisper. He coughed nervously.

"I may have played up the vulnerable part of our looks." He admitted.

"I want to go over and hug us." Sakura whispered sounding shell shocked. "And I _know _you two."

"Oi."

"Hey." The girl said suddenly, running a hand through her short blonde hair. "Cut an abrupt left. Don't talk to Ino, you don't know the slightest thing about our friendship."

"Yamanaka-san? Yeah, her dad's scary…let's avoid her." Naruto's dark hair was pulled back in a wolf tail and tribal markings ran red and vicious down the left of his face. Sakura gave up on her pale hair and decided to leave it as a mess, meanwhile Sasuke had bandages wrapped around his face until his dark hair and ferocious dark eyes could only be glimpsed. The three of them looked very unfriendly (for possibly the first times in their lives).

Sasuke's machete helped.

**Obito: There's a team staring at mine. And I don't mean one of the Rookies.**

**Rin: Which one?**

**Obito: The Konoha team with the scary looking guys; with the tattoo and bandages. Their kunoichi looks like a piece of work as well.**

**Gai: …Whose team are they?**

**Obito: Don't care, they mean trouble for my team. Grr.**

**Asuma: Why is your team avoiding mine like the plague Uchiha? I thought our kunoichis were friends?**

**Obito: …As far as I know they are?**

**Gai: Look at my youthful team and how they pretend to lose valiantly!-**

**Rin: …**

**Gai: …**

**Rin: Don't kill Kotetsu for hitting your student…**

**Gai: …**

"That medic is really interested in our team." Sasuke spoke lowly for the first time, voice low and threatening. His eyes were fixed on one silver haired medic who slowly swivelled his head to meet Sasuke's ferocious glare. Suddenly Sasuke pushed off the wall and loped towards the medic who looked rather like a deer in the headlights.

"I'll keep him out of trouble." Sakura muttered and took off after him, boots clicking as she strode confidently after him. Whispers followed them both and one team who was unfortunate to catch Naruto's attention got the full brunt of his steely glare as he acted his character.

"Got a problem?" Sasuke asked, voice slipping into outright dangerous. Naruto understood that the henge he had taken just had a threatening voice as the default. The medic stepped away from the congregation of the rookies smiling genially.

"I was just going to tell them to be quieter." The teenager explained eying Sasuke warily. Naruto didn't blame him, Sasuke looked like a thug.

"Did I ask you for what you planned to do?" Sasuke snarled, a bit of gravel sneaking into his tone. His eyes were on the same level as the medic's and Naruto felt a little bit sorry for him.

"Ne, ne Daisuke." Sakura strode up utterly without fear. Most teams watched as she approached without any hesitance of her team mate or the tense situation with the medic's team. "Behave."

"Thank you-"

"Shut your mouth little man unless you want to be thrown through a wall." Sakura tilted her head, words deliberately cruel. "Keep your pervert eyes off the kids as well, you're old and good enough to tangle with the proper competitors ne?"

**Obito: What a piece of work…I do hope Sakura doesn't pick up many bad habits from watching all of the kunoichi here.**

**Rin: Sakura? I'm more worried about Hinata!**

**Asuma: I have a feeling Ino is going to like this one…Gai give me your kunoichi! Impressionable kids are the worst!**

The medic backed away immediately watching Sakura warily.

"You're too violent Saki." Sasuke scolded. "Threats shouldn't need to be said out loud to be effective. I keep telling you…a bit like him in fact." The medic opened and closed his mouth at the change Sasuke made from dealing with a stranger to dealing with a team mate. Then everyone noticed what Sasuke had.

A terrifying bear of a man had somehow got into the room without anyone noticing. All Naruto could think of was that Ibiki Morino was even more terrifying with a screw driver in his hand and just to be grateful-

The man spun a kunai on his finger.

Naruto internally began to panic. Ibiki-san was a sadist! And accompanying him was…

Men and women in dark grey tracksuits melted out of the corner of his eyes, dark hair bound with bandages, teeth bared in fierce grins.

…Half of the T&amp;I department.

At least Anko wasn't here.

And an ominous foreboding chill ran down his back. Ibiki and Anko were pretty much _always _together in terms of work. Where was she?

"So one of you has eyes at least." Ibiki grinned a bear's smile. His voice was permanently set on deep and gravelly and ever since Naruto had met the man, he had a thought that Ibiki was the type of man who carved his dice out of his opponent's shin bones. Kami knew where he had that little brain wave from, he only knew that his ankles felt very vulnerable right now.

Sasuke's eyes crinkled at the corners taking the compliment/threat well. Not many people would notice it but his left hand was at his side; last two fingers extended, rest curled. Sakura's smile was equally as cold and empty.

The symbol meant 'exceedingly dangerous, do not taunt'.

"You flatter me." He said calmly. "Who would dare to miss _you _in this room?"

**Obito: Seriously, whose team is that?**

**Asuma: I don't know…I don't remember them? And I'm really sorry Gai, my kunoichi doesn't have much tact.**

**Gai: Lee is a good boy, some day people will appreciate his youth.**

**Rin: At least mine are sensible…**

**Obito: *cough* You were saying?**

**Rin: It's called scoping the competition! That's the only reason she's staring!**

Ibiki lifted his head, the mountain of a man shifted and Naruto's eyes narrowed. What was he planning? The man's features were craggy rock and hard eyes and a grim mouth with a bandana covering the rest.

"Now quieten down you brats!" The man said in a tone just slightly louder than normal but the force in that command sent ripples of silence buffeting from around him. "Thanks for waiting, I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chunin Exam's first test. Konoha brats stop fighting each other or I'll fail both of your teams right here."

"Not much of a fight." Sakura scoffed.

"Hush Saki." Sasuke ordered lazily. "Let's not get carried away too soon. I apologise examiner-san."

Naruto hid a grin. Sasuke and Sakura had hit on their characters perfectly and had confused everyone on who was the violent one and who was the peace keeper.

"Bah." Ibiki didn't sound the least bit amused. "Here's a good opportunity to say this but there will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if it is granted, killing the opponent will not be tolerated. The pigs that disobey me will be removed immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

**Rin: If he calls my team pigs one more time…**

**Asuma: Would you prefer Anko to traumatise them first or let Ibiki ease them in as gently as it is humanely possible? He's not needlessly cruel unlike that psychopath.**

**Rin: Anko is not a psychopath! She's just very good at pretending to be one!**

Meanwhile Naruto had picked up enough of Obito's paranoid habits over the years and was scanning the room instead of keeping an eye on Ibiki. He trusted Sasuke to watch and cover for both of them.

The team they had seen before didn't look fazed at all; a sound team had some unpleasant sneers, but they didn't react much more than that; his eyes flicked from one side of the room to the other. They were trouble.

Then he saw a Kusa Nin (boy or girl?) positively smirking with a pointed hat casting a shadow over their face. The medic Sasuke had been harassing was far less nervous faced with Ibiki than an acting Sasuke (something was wrong there). Team upon team who had merely got excited instead of intimidated at Ibiki's statement.

_Fools._

That arrogance in their strength would fail them. Ibiki was _Jonin. _

Unless some of the genin in the exams were plants themselves…Naruto scowled, tattoos twisting menacingly at the corner of his mouth.

He folded his arms over his chest. His right hand laid on his bicep, first and last finger straightened.

'Assume plants'.

"Alright draw your token and take a seat." Ibiki called out. "And we'll hand out the question papers."

Naruto had done so and taken his seat when to his surprised amusement Hinata dropped into the seat next to him. Those eyes were certainly useful.

"Hello Naruto-kun." She whispered, quiet enough not to be overheard.

"How long have you known?" He smiled at her.

"I've had them activated ever since I walked in." She admitted. "Your network is distinctive. I did not know you could create clones of yourself?"

"It's my unique selling point." Naruto said completely straight faced. "Free labour."

Hinata laughed quietly.

Neji leant into the table next to Naruto, fingers splayed and bent over the duo.

"Uzumaki." Neji said, also quiet enough not to be overheard.

"Hold on. No." Naruto pointed. "You like Sasuke better. And if you say you don't know who Sasuke is in this room, you sir are a liar."

Neji's lip curled. "I do not _like _anyone on your team Uzumaki, stop deluding yourself. You three just better than the other Rookies by a small amount."

Naruto stared. "What do you want Neji?"

"You don't have a kekkei genkei." Neji breathed, so soft that Naruto _just_ heard him. His eyes were reflective balls of rainbows trapped in glass. How could something so pretty be so intimidating? Naruto's lips thinned, and of course the Hyuuga would figure it out first. Joy. And of course it would be Neji. Why not?

"Are you stupid Hyuuga?" He asked sharply.

"Unfortunately for you." Neji replied smirking ever so faintly taking Naruto's comment as proof he was correct. "I am not. Hinata-san." He nodded seemingly cordially but Naruto saw the tension in the line of his neck.

"Neji-Nii-san." Hinata smiled shyly.

Neji's lips did not even twitch.

Hinata kept on smiling.

Naruto scowled.

_Hyuugas._

"No way are you sitting there." He told Neji abruptly. "Sorry, go bother Sasuke instead, I have plans."

"Did you think I wanted to sit by you and my honourable cousin?" Neji scoffed. "Please Uzumaki. I've done what I came here to do." His eyes weren't even remotely looking at Naruto but Naruto felt the familiar scrape between his shoulder blades; a warning that he was being watched closely.

"I saw your brother." Neji said, voice soft as a spider's tread. "That night. My eyes are _very good _Uzumaki, and for that period of time he had the same type of secondary coils as you."

Naruto didn't breathe for the next heartbeat.

"Maybe that sentimental nonsense about you being related isn't that farfetched after all." Neji finished, closing his eyes, hiding the oil like sheen. The older teen reached out and rapped Naruto in the middle of his forehead with his finger knuckle.

"Try not to destroy Konoha." Neji said, voice still quiet, but with a definite bite of humour tainting the words.

**Gai: Neji is on friendly terms with a genin I have not seen before! *pause* this is a miracle of youth!**

**Rin: He could just be making alliances.**

**Obito: By hitting him on the head? And no tattoo boy knows him as well and RIN WHAT IS YOUR STUDENT DOING? SO when the Hyuuga aren't training or intensely fighting amongst each other, they go make friends with tattoo boy. Interesting…Gai have you heard your student talk about this one?**

**Gai: It is a miracle of youth.**

**Obito: That's a no then.**

**Asuma: Are…you saying that two of the Hyuuga candidates are on likable terms with a strange, wild looking genin and **_**no one **_**knows about this? Not even their family, jonin sensei or…**

**Rin: Gai…are you **_**crying?**_

"Stay away from him." Naruto warned, an awful instinct of trepidation welling up in him. Spirits weren't on the same level as manifestations of chakra and if Sasuke could do _that much _damage he didn't want to know what he or the red head could do if they wanted to.

"I know." Neji scoffed and walked away seconds before Ibiki finished handing out the last of the exam papers. He tuned in to the instructions with half an ear, this really was not his strong point.

"Neji-Nii-san must hold all of you in high regard if he can stand to talk to you for more than a minute." Hinata murmured, fingers pushing together.

"Meh." Naruto allowed. "Hey you, come sit next to me!" And Hinata choked next to him as the red headed boy with the secondary chakra coils paused in his walk to his seat.

He didn't blame her. Especially after telling Neji to stay away from him, he too was wondering what the hell he was doing. Sasuke's eyes flashed dangerously from his seat and Sakura's slight smile told him that she still didn't know.

"Who are you?" The boy said politely, and icy scorpions slid around in Naruto's stomach. It chilled his spine and blood, calmed his heart and his mind spun like clear, glass clockwork. He _knew _it wasn't all him though, there was no rational reason for him to react this way…so it wasn't him at all. This was the fox reacting to one of its own. There was a really good reason to think that the red head was having a similar reaction from the way his pupils contracted.

"Why don't you find out?" Naruto's grin acted like an invitation.

"Gaara." The girl with sand in her hair whispered once. It was a warning, a plea and a question all in one word. Well Naruto now had a name, that was good.

"The quickest way to find out what someone is like is through their heart." Gaara whispered, red hair rustling as he silently accepted the seat next to Naruto. "And the quickest way to the heart?"

"Sideways through the ribs, bypassing the sternum and the spine." Naruto's smile was fierce.

Hinata sucked in her breath.

"Hmm." Gaara allowed. "If you prefer the precise method. I'm quite a fan of ripping it out with brute force myself. Bones, defences and all be damned."

And damn if those eyes weren't magnificently terrifying enough to actually creep Naruto out.

He was no Itachi though.

Naruto picked up the pencil and tapped at the air a foot away from the boy. Sand rushed out to meet it and the head stuck in the gritty shield.

"Scared of a pencil?" Naruto asked softly. "Or is that you don't have full control of your own power?"

The sand tightened around the rubber and metal and with a crack, the wood split down the middle as the tip was destroyed. All the time Gaara's face gave nothing away.

Naruto retracted his pencil, grinning slightly, as the hour started. He flipped the paper over and immediately his eyes went funny from reading the complicated questions.

Oh _Kami. _He spied a look at Sakura, who was writing away and at Sasuke whose reddish tinted eyes gave away the fact he was copying her hand movements. Well those two had it easy. Hinata discreetly coughed under her breath.

This alliance thing was useful.

He quickly copied her answers down with the ease of a cheat who had been taught by Uchiha Obito himself. He checked what his clones were doing and found them relaxing in their seats, not even bothering to answer the questions. Ah "Team 7" technically didn't even have to pass this round, Naruto thought in faint exasperation. They could pass or fail and it wouldn't even matter.

**Rin: Your team figured out the meaning behind the test disturbingly fast Obito.**

**Obito: …Yeah they must have…there's no other explanation for Sakura and Sasuke not even attempting to answer the questions otherwise.**

**Asuma: What about the blond one, Naruto?**

**Obito: I love that kid to bits, I honestly do, but he's not the type to get even one of those questions right. And really Asuma, why is your kunoichi targeting mine when she can see Sakura's not even writing anything?**

**Rin: I may have missed out the importance of subtlety on my team.**

**Gai: The barking and increase in bugs in the room might just be a **_**little **_**obvious.**

**Rin: You **_**think? **_**At least Hinata's more discreet than the other two.**

**Asuma: Shikamaru's got his team covered. Well that's my headache gone. Gai, how on earth did your kunoichi manage to get wires to mirrors on the ceiling? I was **_**watching **_**and I missed that.**

**Gai: Fufufu my team is youthful indeed.**

"Number 45 fail." Ibiki said quietly. "Take your team and leave."

A genin yelped and stood shakily to his feet. "You have no-"

Naruto's ankles suddenly tingled.

"Would you like to test us child?" Ibiki asked, a grave humour lending a bite to his words. "We will spit you back out as a lesson in humility. We know what we are doing."

The genin swallowed, suddenly very pale, and left. His teammates followed, jaws tight.

Next to him Gaara held his left hand up in the ram seal, Naruto's attention snapped sideways as a small ball of sand swirled into a sphere, rolling twisting and heaving. After a few seconds the top most layer of sand split apart to reveal a blinking eye. The red head placed his finger on his forehead and the organ collapsed into dust, scattering in the wind.

He wondered if the sand was a side effect of the tailed beast or if that was the boy's natural bloodline gift. Hmm Sasuke was in Sakura's eyesight and Sasuke was in his eyesight…maybe their kunoichi would have enough control to pull the trick he was thinking of off.

He rested his elbows on the desk and channelled chakra to his finger. Sasuke's eyes picked up _residues_ of chakra. He traced the words subtly in the air, Sasuke's eyes snapped to him, picking up the invisible words Naruto was drawing.

Then the menacing looking boy looked away bored, idly tapping his pencil on his test paper, alternating between the paper and the desk. Sakura rested her head in her arms on the table top, her posture from the back looked thoroughly bored.

Cries of indignation went up from the row she was sitting on, as people started to struggle with their pencils. Her head perked up.

"Oya, what's this?" She grumbled. "Can't someone sleep in peace?"

One of the examiners silently held his finger up to his lips and she abided.

"Our pencils!"

Sakura rested the tip of her pencil on the paper and whistled when she let go. It remained perfectly balanced without her hand, at an angle to the desk, on the very tip of the graphite. She tried to pull it away but it would not budge by even a millimetre. Everyone on that row had just lost control of their cheating and tests if they could not even write down the answers.

Oh Sakura was _good _Naruto marvelled. Spreading her own chakra through her arms, down the table and using the tree walking principle to hold the pencils firmly in place was _not _an easy task. In fact for Naruto it would be easier for him to thread a needle while wearing mittens. He was very impressed and proud that she had pulled it off in the first place.

**Asuma: Whoever did that little trick just neutralised the chunin everyone was copying from…now the entire cohort is affected.**

**Gai: That was an extremely good move to make! Take out the source of answers and now let the panic set in!**

There was a shift in the air in the room. Panic. Desperation. Frustration.

Five people got sent out almost at the same time. The room's rate of thinning out genin had increased.

Naruto reached out with his foot and lightly touched the back leg of the chair in front of him. He didn't have as good as control as Sakura, but then again he had a different idea now. He sent his chakra down the wood and to the ends, into the two legs at the far left. Then he stopped himself from forcibly thinning out the chakra and let it pool.

Bang!

The two legs gave out, showering splinters everywhere. The table sighed and collapsed, papers flew, pencils rolled under chairs. The genin jumped up alarmed and Hinata gave him a soft reproachful look.

Three rows ahead all of the pencils shattered, Sakura having lost control in that split second of surprise.

Well Naruto thought slightly wickedly, with twenty minutes until the final question, they were doing quite well at disrupting people's cheating attempts. Two rows out of seven had been thoroughly disturbed and it seemed like they had affected all seven on some scale.

Someone cut Tenten's wires in the chaos. The mirrors shattered on the floor and desks sending dangerous shards throwing light over the room. Some lodged in desks, some lodged in chairs and some lodged in genin. Akamaru's barking increased in volume. Gaara seethed next to him, sand brushing and rasping over the wood of his chair, the yells and accusations clearly riling him up. Some girls in the back started shrieking about insects, Sasuke's henge clearly failed around his eyes and the blood red irises blazed into life and he rested his chin in his hand, taking in the scene and all the jutsus for his own amusement.

Then one idiot knocked a bag full of glass and liquid off a table as he stepped back hissing at the chaos. The bright person who bought the bag in leapt back in absolute horror as the liquid spilled turned out to be alcohol and the bottles, Molotov cocktails. It caught fire immediately, licking up the legs of the table, cheerfully burning the exam paper to a crisp and rushing along the spreading alcohol.

People on that table leapt out of the way and before one of the examiners could put it out, Sasuke stood up and slammed a window open. The wind direction was perfect. It caused the fire to jump from paper to paper, setting them all alight, and when all of them were merrily burning Sasuke slammed it shut again.

"Does that count as cheating?" He asked mildly to the nearest examiner as the whole room had clearly seen him. "Technically that was sabotage. That's not covered by the rules at all."

The examiner conceded he had a point and only docked one point from him for setting a fire indoors without proper ventilation.

**Obito: Woah.**

**Rin: Whoaa.**

**Asuma: Poor Ibiki. He must be having so much fun.**

**Gai: What destructive youth! It must be encouraged.**

**Rin: Gai. Gai NO.**

Then one of the examiners caught fire.

And just stood there.

Everyone stared.

Then one of the man's arms dropped off, revealing that it was a puppet. One of the Sand genin cursed and Gaara's bloodlust next to Naruto spiked.

Someone screamed, not quite grasping that it was a puppet.

The water jet hit in the next second, dousing the fire, soaking several more papers in the process turning them all into a soggy mush. People spat out water.

"Fucking Konoha."

That was the final straw.

"What did you say?!"

The Konoha Nin whirled on the foreigners, all bright eyed and sharp things clutched between their fingers. It looked like real violence was going to break out amongst the centre of destruction when-

At the front Ibiki shrugged.

Unwillingly everyone's gaze was drawn to the man, nervousness turning their stomachs sour. Even if they weren't sure _why _they were nervous, they all knew they had good reason, even if most of the reasons were unknown.

"You three." Ibiki pointed at the henged Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. The room was a mess of water, singed desks, ruined test papers, one or two broken tables, mirror shards lying around and littered with the shavings of exploded pencils.

"What have you got to say for yourself?"

**Obito: How on earth have we not heard of this team before if they're this destructive?! It took them half an hour for them to turn this into chaos and they started late!**

**Rin: The tattooed one is scaring Hinata! He's right next to her and look how she's shaking.**

**Gai: …I don't know Rin-flower…I mean, Neji's shaking too, rather suspiciously…but he's not one to be scared easily…how odd.**

**Asuma: Fuck Ino, don't make notes. Shika, stop her!**

**Rin: Damn good team though.**

**Obito: …If I must say it….I suppose.**

Sasuke shrugged insolently. "Our team work is amazing?"

Naruto laughed in his head at the typical response.

"Well technically we all acted out of bounds with sabotage once." Sakura noted, "And that wasn't cheating we did so following examiner san's guide of action as an example, we lose a point each, Daisuke's already been done so total we lose three points."

Three points caused an awful lot of damage.

"Three?" Ibiki repeated sardonically. "Why not thirty?"

"Well you could." Naruto ran a finger down his lower lip, excitement from all the chaos lending him courage. "But wouldn't you rather get on with the tenth question?" He pointed at the clock where forty five minutes had ticked away from the hour timer.

"Sit down." Ibiki repeated in the same tone of voice, implying he was done with their trouble.

All of them sat demurely.

"No. Changed my mind, stand up again."

They stood.

"Everyone _else _find a place to sit down where you can see those three."

Oh dear. Why had he thought it was a good idea to mess with the Head of T&amp;I's personal exam? Sweat trickled down Naruto's back. His ankles!

**Obito: They're in for it now. Shame really, even if they're odd, they were a pretty damn good team.**

**Rin: Pray that for your team's sake, they get eliminated in this round. **

There was quite some shuffling as people took seats grumbling about insane Konoha Nin around the room. Surely it wasn't possible for Hyuuga to look that amused and exasperated at the same time, Naruto thought when he caught sight of Neji.

"I'll let two of you stay for the tenth question." Ibiki said. "The other one is disqualified."

"Forget it." All three of them said at the same time. That was far too similar to the original bell test Obito-Nii had told them about, Naruto frowned. Was Ibiki still carrying on in the name of the test?

**Obito: Oho hoho? *lean forward***

**Rin: Ohoho. *paying attention***

"Alright." Ibiki was smiling strangely. A small tight smile that did not bode well for them at all. "I'll let you withdraw from the exam now and there will be no shame to your records. If _not_then I will ask the remaining candidates to vote. If they vote yes you can stay you will carry on as normal, if they do not; I will bar you from entering any future exams again for improper behaviour for the rest of your career. You will never rise above genin."

Naruto's heart caught in his throat. What a sadistic choice.

The audience looked decidedly unfriendly. Shi-

His eyes narrowed, sadistic choice it may be but they were here to get stronger. They couldn't walk away themselves when they had a chance to stay and face stronger opponents. He still had to figure out Gaara, they still had to deal with whatever Neji had planned for them, they couldn't bow out here. In their career, they had to take certain gambles.

"I'm not running away now." Sasuke scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Put it to the vote, just because I may be genin for the rest of my life, doesn't mean I won't be damn good."

Naruto smiled. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Well I'm not leaving of my own will after putting up that good a show." Sakura muttered, playing the role of Saki perfectly. "You'll have to drag me from this exam screaming."

It was a nice feeling to know that they were in complete agreement as a team. It seemed to happen very rarely.

Ibiki's smile was that of a crocodile's.

"Audience. Vote for yes."

Hinata put her hand up. After a second the rest of her team followed suit, looking at her confusedly. For some reason the silver haired medic put his hand up. There was a smattering of few more hands among the more sympathetic Konoha genin. One of the examiners tried to put his hand up but that got slapped down. After a sigh and a dramatic eye roll Neji raised his hand.

Far too few. But he didn't give up hope yet.

"Vote nay."

Everyone else's hands went up.

**Asuma: Well yes, that's the only sensible option concerning a potentially dangerous team, regardless of whether its fair or not.**

Naruto started to wonder if Ibiki really had the authority to keep them from the chunin exams forever if they had an impeccable record after this. Sakura's jaw clenched and Sasuke looked as disagreeable as ever.

"Anko." Ibiki raised his voice slightly.

A woman resembling a steel whipcord appeared at his side in a whisper of cloth. Purple hair the colour of poisonous berries floated around her head and far from being distracted by her provocative outfit Naruto was far more fixed on her eyes. Those were snake eyes; hard and brown like the desert earth, cracked and dry.

He swallowed. Two of the most dangerous members of T&amp;I. Woe betide any team who underestimated them.

And they had attracted both their attentions.

"Che. It's early, whaddya want?" She grumbled, leaning on Ibiki's shoulder.

"Those three need their files updated. They can't enter chunin exams again." Ibiki told her, voice gravelly as he coughed into his fist.

"Ooooh." Her eyes locked onto theirs. They really were hard eyes Naruto thought with a little despair. How did someone get eyes like those?

**Obito: Aww that's a little sad.**

**Asuma: Did you not want this team out of the way?**

**Obito: Well yeah, but I'm imagining my team being told they can't ever enter a chunin exam again. Aww.**

"Why are you saddling me with the paperwork?" Anko snarled and hooked a finger at the three of them. "You lot with me."

"I'm sorry." Hinata whispered next to him, looking stricken, her hands wringing. "I'll do my best to swing it so that you-"

He raised a hand so that she stopped, eyebrows pinched nervously.

"Don't worry Hinata-san." Naruto said more carelessly than he felt. "You concentrate on blasting these exams. Let us worry about our own." There really was no problem. All they had to do was dispel the henges and take up their spot as the actual Team 7 before Anko realised their files were non-existent.

He strolled down the aisle way and went through the door Anko left swinging open for them at the end of the room. He could feel all the sets of eyes on his back as a series of pin pricks across his shoulder blades.

They really needed to dispel the henge and Kawarimi at the same time so Anko wasn't left with one alarmed poor member of Team 7. He signed the plan to the other two and got back two irritated signs back that they already knew the plan. Sakura fixed her hair so that her little finger and thumb were hidden from view.

3.

Then she yawned into her fist, two fingers curled a bit looser than the rest.

2.

Then she got tired and just held up a finger foregoing subtlety.

1.

He readied for both jutsus.

Anko strode on ahead, coat flapping behind her in the breeze she created.

"You run away, you really will be disqualified." She warned, humour lacing her words like venom.

What? They weren't disqualified yet?

Anko half glanced back them, sun catching the side of her face, smirk wicked and eyes gleaming. Then she strode ahead, boots tapping out an authorative tune on the tiled floors, hair bouncing around her head.

Well Naruto thought slightly indignantly, she was enjoying herself.

"We're not disqualified?" Sasuke repeated, voice rough from disbelief.

She didn't look back at them but they all got the impression she was rolling her eyes from the sheer aura of confidence and exasperation she was emitting.

"Use your brain little maggot." She snapped her fingers at a nearby chunin and he leapt into action, disappearing in a flash of brown. "You three may be over confident babies but the foundations _are _there. Whoever your teacher was, he drilled the meaning of team work into you well. A Chunin cannot afford to run away because it _might _be safer! Your pride as shinobi, your honour on behalf of the village, risks are an integral part of our daily life!"

It was slowly dawning on Naruto. Something loosened in his chest like a pipe faucet slipping.

"The tenth question is a test on whether you lot can decide to take a risk and keep fighting or if you decide to run away, tails between your legs." Anko spread her arms wide as she walked. "Ibiki decided to give yours early and make examples of you lot, probably because he liked the shit you three pulled. Now the rest of the maggots have seen the consequences of what happens when they fight and take a risk, they're more likely to take the safer option."

Her grin was truly wicked.

"I guess." She laughed. "That makes you three pseudo examiners in a way."

Team 7 stared at her dumbly. Sakura began to giggle at how the examines had played everybody. Naruto threw his head back laughing, they had played the rest of the genin and then the examiners had played their play to play everyone. Kami, wouldn't the rest of the genin get a shock?

**So what did you think?**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Second Task start! Enjoy guys ****.**

They stood outside a slate grey wall that was taller than their three times their house. It was strangely cool despite the sun that was high overhead, there was the smell of wilderness in the air. Strange tree sap, mud, animal musk and some weird scents they didn't recognise. Naruto eyed a monster of a grasshopper slowly make its way up a grass stem and wondered what they fed their insects here.

"For this next test you might die." Anko said calmly, hand cocked on her hip. She tilted her head back and stared at them imperially. "You will need to sign waivers to acknowledge that. It'll absolve any responsibility I have towards you. _Now. _You passed early and so I'll let you start this one early as a reward." She held up one long fingered hand, fingers pointed at the sky, palm facing upwards. A black scroll materialised out of thin air and dropped end first into her palm.

"This is the scroll of Earth." Her eyes gleamed. "You need a white scroll of Heaven in addition to pass. After you have gained both scrolls you must make your way to the building at the centre of the Forest. Under no conditions must you open them and the time limit is five days, I'll send the teams through when they come and they'll randomly have either Earth or Heaven with the same objective as you."

She gave the scroll over to Sakura as if she was handing over a baton.

"Guys." Naruto said, a truly great idea sparking in his mind. "Why don't we hang on to our advantage a little longer?"

Sasuke grinned from the shape his bandages twisted. "There was a baby team in there who looked particularly harmless."

Here was the clever part. Instead of removing their henges, they layered it one level higher leaving Naruto back in his normal, very unthreatening visage of a head of blond hair and a whiskered face. Team 7 pretending to be another Konoha team pretending to be Team 7.

"Heh." Anko's eyes were bright and seemed like voracious pits of quicksand with how the light was falling on them. "My congratulations to your teacher. They certainly taught you henge well." There was a serpentine amusement in her laugh though. "Now kiddies." She suddenly purred, pulling Sakura closer, still not having let the scroll go yet, and bent over so that their faces were closer together. "Go cause havoc for me."

She let the scroll go. Sakura stumbled. With a creak one of the doors slid open, helped by one of the silent chunin. He kawarimid with a log near the entrance, saw his team mates appear through the puff of smoke and the doors shut with a clang.

Sakura offered the scroll to Sasuke who looked at her hard, then slowly shook his head.

"You keep it this time." His tone was gruff and Naruto was fondly reminded of their bell test and how they had all changed since then. He looked up at the towering canopy above them and whistled, shading his eyes with his hand. It was a ceiling of green and gold; so dark green and pale gold that it looked like one of the ceramic pots Obito had in his office where he fixed every crack with gently fusing it with gold. It was beautiful and fragile and a breeze picked up, ruffling the knee height grass at his feet.

**Obito: Well that's my team passed, and all of yours, and I'm sorry but I have to go now. Keep me updated yeah? *fist bump with Gai***

**Rin: Where are you going? Watch them into the second test first. **

**Asuma: It's **_**Anko **_**next after all.**

"Let's just trap the next team to use the gate after us." Sasuke offered, stretching his arm at the shoulder. "There were more gates around the wall, so they probably give each team a different gate. And then when they're distracted by us being here when we should be gates away, we can put on the henges again and really give them a shock."

"Also." Sakura said quietly. "Naruto. Fake scrolls please."

…..###############################################################...

**Obito: Yeah, look they've been separated now and given the task. Now I really need to go guys. Gai, Rin, get off me!**

**Gai: *Sitting on Obito* They have not left yet! I am curious to how Neji will catch up and deliver his most youthful challenge if they have been separated!**

**Rin: *Sitting on Obito* Relax Dobito. Where ever you need to go, you're fast enough for a ten minutes delay.**

**Asuma: *Muttering* I am so glad the only way we know each other is through sensei-hood.**

**Obito: *Pointing at screen* Look at them! They're talking and planning this through, I don't need to see them to know that my team will be just fine. I have faith in them.**

**Rin: Oh! My team are in the forest! Look at Hinata go!**

**Asuma: …What just happened with your team Gai?**

**Gai: It's Neji-kun. He must have seen something good. How youthful!**

**Asuma: Ah. Mine are in! Why are yours delaying Obito? They really shouldn't delay if they want to finish in time.**

**Obito: Huh.**

**Rin: What **_**are **_**they doing?**

**Asuma: Oh.**

**Gai: …**

**Obito: I AM GOING TO KILL THEM.**

**Rin: *laughing* Oh my kami *wheeze***

**Gai: My dearest riva-**

**Obito: I KNEW IT. I KNEW **_**IT. **_** I KNEW THOSE TRICKY BRATS WERE UP TO SOMETHING. BY KAMI, ITS KARMA ISN'T IT. **

**Asuma: *crying with laughter***

**Obito: WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE SUCH HELL? **

**Rin: *wheeze* You're not asking the proper question. *wheeze, clutching stomach* Where are they?!**

**Obito: OH FOR-**

Naruto's head got slammed with new memories from his three clones.

"_Maggots!" Anko cried, "Team 7 from Konoha, Desert from Suna, Irida from Kiri, Kuekai from Kumo, follow me." She grinned, brushing glass shards off her hair and out of the crease in her clothes. "You should be honoured you get me all to yourself. The rest of you follow me as well!"_

_There was a puff of smoke and a duplicate Anko appeared, grinning lazily and lounging against the wall._

_She led them down a separate corridor out into the greenery, a small stream running at their left._

"_Now you special brats are too special for your own good." The woman at the front smiled, teeth white and sharp. "I'm told you lot have a peace meeting that your bigshot families have to attend and that you're all invited." She tutted. "Did you think that would get you out of my exam though? Your second exam maggots! Is to get to Rain and the peace conference in three days. You will not have a map, the only supplies are the things you are carrying now and if you are late, you tarnish the reputation of your country and family." She beamed at them. "You all should know your own passphrases, and if you don't, don't come crying to me." _

_She held up a finger._

"_You won't be able to leave the country without these tokens." She held up three tokens between her fingers. "There are three types. Slug and Toad are worth three points each but Snake is worthless. All of the border guards have been given instructions not to let a team pass unless they have ten points between them, however if you had the initiative and got extra, for seven Snake tokens they will stop the next group from leaving the country and take all of their tokens and they will have to try again regardless of how many points they have. The tokens are hidden in the country and the further away you get, the less tokens there are. So you have to choose, get there fast and hope to get tokens so you don't get blocked or get the tokens first, get there a bit slower and potentially get blocked or fight each other for them."_

Then there was a dizzying mix of memories as the three clones' memories started to play different things as they had been focusing on different things. Naruto winced, realised what he had just learnt and-

"We have to get to Rain in three days!" Naruto sat up shrieking, wind milling his arms.

Sasuke and Sakura swivelled their heads to meet his, expressions rather like owls.

"_What._"

"Team 7 and other teams were taken to the side!" Naruto babbled, mentally calculating the distances between here and Rain. "That's their second exam! _Our _second exam! That's how the Hokage planned to get us to attend!"

"But we're stuck here." Sakura said slowly, a small trace of horror leaking into her voice. Those walls looked awfully high and the clang of the doors seemed awfully final.

"It's fine." Sasuke rubbed his jaw. "I have a plan but none of you are going to like it."

Sasuke had a way of getting them out and to Rain in three days without a map? His estimation for the dark haired boy shot up.

"Ah Naruto you're going to have to handle the getting out of the forest part, sorry. From there my plan will work. Sakura how many kunai and senbon have you got?"

The kunoichi on their team cracked her knuckles. "Enough to make some unfortunate soul resemble a pin cushion."

"Good." Sasuke nodded.

They had all forgotten about getting the Heaven scroll now. Naruto thought for a second.

"Right. Sakura, pass me the Earth scroll." She threw it to him and he nodded. "Right, try not to move too far, I'll be back."

He skidded out of the area, lightly jumping off the trees in gravity defying jumps, twists and hand stands.

**Obito: Save me now…**

**Asuma: *intently staring* They have a plan Uchiha, that's more than what many teams would have in their situation.**

**Obito: That's not it…I've just realised. The team we didn't recognise…that's them. It all makes sense now, Hinata and Neji would have recognised their chakra patterns and they're friends with them…**

**Rin: …No…Team 7 are sweet, little genin…that team was a brutal mess…**

**Gai: May I point out…with phenomenal team work, Obito my friend! Rejoice! You have taught them subterfuge to the point they hoodwinked the teacher. Is that not the dream?**

**Obito: Go away Gai, I'm mourning their lost innocence.**

**Rin: What on earth have you been teaching them!?**

**Obito: Nothing like that! **

…**##################################################################...**

Naruto ran along the edge of the forest, keeping flashes of the slate wall in his peripheral at all times. It would be too easy to wander in and lose track of where he was going and that would be devastating with their time scale. He hit off a large boulder, spun three loose circles in the air by swinging his legs forcefully and landed halfway up a tree, using the irregularities in the bark to kick off.

Then there was a net of steel in front of him. He squawked and dropped thirty feet to the forest floor, sending trails of splinters behind him as he slid down the bark. What was that?

There were two flashes of light, as thin as a human hair and instinctively he applied far too much chakra and blasted off, over the two razor sharp wires that would have done him a serious inconvenience.

"Yosh!"

Naruto avoided the kick easily, twisting out of the way. But the sheer _speed _of it had him boggled. It hit the tree and the tree cracked. Then there was wire again and he felt like wailing. He didn't want to deal with Team 9 at the minute!

"Your evasion is excellent Naruto-kun!" Lee grinned at him where he was jogging in his spot, perfectly unconcerned, next to a crack in the tree the size of him.

**Gai: LEE!**

**Obito: Yeah, yeah, no need for the genjutsu and while we're on the topic…what did **_**you **_**teach **_**your **_**genin?**

**Gai: My team's youth overflows!**

**Rin: It's three on one.**

**Gai: Fairness is nice, not essential for ninja. Sorry rival but I will always back my team before yours!**

"Go away." Naruto asked him. The boy smiled. There was always something odd about Gai's smile Naruto realised suddenly. The man would beam and blind everyone with his teeth, that was normal, he would laugh and boom out his intentions, that was normal, but when he smiled, it was serious and Naruto always felt Gai was never one to underestimate his opponent. Lee had the shadow of the same smile flitting over his mouth and Naruto didn't to know what else the man had taught his prodigal team.

"Why did you split?" Neji's voice asked coolly from behind him. He turned to see Tenten grin at him, red goggles over her eyes, a tool belt slung over her hips, flipping a ball of wire in one hand and a kunai in the other. Neji stood a few feet away from his team mate, arms crossed over his chest, veins bulging around his eyes.

Naruto smiled tightly, a plan flying together in his head at lightning speed.

"Did we?"

He hit himself on the chest. His Naruto henge dispelled with a cloud of chakra smoke. Not even the Hyuuga eyes could see though those. At almost the same time he henged himself into a grasshopper hoping that Neji's eyes would overlook him as being a living creature in the insanely tall grass and discount a physical henge as an option. Please let Team 9 think he was a bunshin.

**Asuma: Not bad. I take it Uchiha that his strength is thinking under pressure?**

**Obito: Yes but it mi-**

**Gai: It will not help him.**

**Obito: That.**

**Rin: Why not?**

**Gai: Neji has been watching remember Rin flower. He knows he has only seen one Naruto-kun since the test started and he is well aware of the chance of trickery.**

Tenten tilted her head at where he had been. "Shall I?" She asked comfortably.

"I don't know Tenten flower." Came Lee's voice from behind. "It's a bit cruel to the plants and animals that make this place their home."

"It'll be contained." Tenten promised him. "And if that troublesome kohai of ours is playing a trick, it'll teach him a lesson."

Neji raised his head reminding Naruto of a bloodhound. "The other two are stationary." He said simply. "Fifty yards from a gate, no sign of other bunshins and there's three unconscious genin by them. Uzumaki isn't in my range at all. Tenten flush him out. He's here."

**Obito: Yeah look, here we go. He figured it out in about ten seconds…give or take.**

Naruto meanwhile was slowly making his way through the grass and away from the three genin. There was an ominous hiss from where Team 9 was standing, he sped up slightly. He didn't like the sound of this flushing out.

**Asuma: Is the madness of your two teams contagious or something? I like mine the way they are thank you.**

Something was burning. He sniffed, grass and leaves crackled and there was the rippling heat wave that came with fire in the air. Oh no.

He looked back reluctantly.

Tenten stood there, one hand in pocket, flame thrower in the other cutting a harsh figure in dark shadow as the stream of orange and yellow flame licked over the burning grass and vegetation. Seriously? What kind of things did she carry around on her?

He wasn't going to be able to out crawl that.

He dispelled his henge instantly and pulled out his flare gun and a specially made flare. This was a code they had come up with themselves. Neji's and Lee's head snapped towards his form, wreathed by smoke and fire.

Magnesium and copper.

White and green.

Hyuuga.

Neji's eyes were visible through the flames. Terribly beautiful and ever so blank.

He snapped the flare into place, raised it into the air and shot, the recoil juddering through his shoulder.

Straight up meant friendly Hyuuga. If it flew at an angle it signified the presence of a hostile Hyuuga.

The flare screamed rather fittingly as it went, a twisting firework of brilliant white and green.

**Rin: Aaand they just drew the attention of nearly everyone there.**

**Obito: Odd, he didn't shoot straight. I definitely taught them that. **

**Rin: Unless it's part of the code?**

**Asuma: Probably is or he didn't want to set more of the trees on fire. Considerate lad is he?**

**Gai: Three, two, one-**

His split second delay was enough for Lee to catch up. Naruto ducked under an absurdly fast punch and leapt back but had to dodge as Tenten shot fire at him waving him a peace sign. He triplicated as Neji joined the fight-

This was ridiculous he squeaked in his head as two Taijutsu prodigies wove around each other, working _perfectly _together with the aim of capturing him. Neji aimed a jab at his side, oh no it was a fake, Lee used the distraction to chop at his back- Naruto swapped out feeling the faintest brush of the blow on his back and gulped.

Oh my Kami not more wire! Tenten picked up her team mates' slack, kunai thudding into place around him, trailing wire that tangled around his limbs. He swapped out and ran straight up a tree and knew that at least he had shaken one of them.

**Rin: Oh! Not a bad idea-**

He juddered.

Tenten took out half of the trunk in one glorious smash, shoulder and back muscles flexing as she readied the heavy monster of a sword for another go. Geez that woman was scary.

**Obito: *Howling* That is one hell of a kunoichi! Well **_**done **_**Gai!**

**Gai: *preen***

He jumped out, sending bunshins everywhere. He was sure she couldn't use that thing to chop down every single tree in the clearing at the same time.

"You forgot me." Came a deadpan voice from above him. His head jerked up, heart skipping a beat.

Neji's foot planted in his face and threw him out of his perch screaming.

**Asuma: Ouch.**

Naruto gritted his teeth, reached out with his fingers, skimmed the tree bark and applied chakra long enough so that he could use it like a pivot and land on his toes a fair distance away-

Where Lee was waiting for him. He cloned in mid-air and used it to change his direction, landing on his back and hands so that he could roll back on his feet. A flare fell out of his pocket.

He snapped it into the flare gun and shot. It screamed as it went, thick smoke pouring from the barrel, lighting the wide eyed Lee in a blood red. Lee dodged hurriedly, the flare tripled in light intensity when it was by him; Naruto turned away hurriedly so his eyes didn't become useless.

Tenten had goggles he thought idly when the kunoichi appeared without a whisper at his left, goggles reflecting his upper body in the red glass. How inconvenient. Fire raged around the clearing, the magnificent trees were burning, leaves curling, bark smoking and Naruto coughed into his palm, sweat trickling down his back.

**Asuma: Well I think Anko might just bill you two for the repairs later.**

**Obito: Please don't say that, it's his team causing all of the damage.**

With his other hand he started a stream of one handed signs like those he had seen Haku use. Tenten stopped almost immediately and backed up a few spaces before she realised Naruto was actually reciting the Second's Songbird at her with all the characters replaced by animals. She half laughed, half growled before attacking again.

**Rin: *laugh* He really likes that story doesn't he?**

**Obito: I'm never telling him what it stands for.**

**Gai: Good plan rival.**

"Tenten!" Neji shouted from somewhere behind the fire and smoke. "Don't!"

She had forgotten about his other hand. It felt like static with how much chakra he was forcing at his fingertips. He flung himself back, sweeping out his fingers in an arc that grazed the edge of Tenten's blade-

_CRACK._

Shrapnel flew in all directions. Neji and Lee cried out in alarm. The sword shattered not able to take the overload of chakra on the surface area of his fingers. Tenten cried out, Naruto wailed and in the fraction of a second before they got impaled he swapped with a log, then with Tenten and ended up next to her with rapid fire Kawarimi. She swung her forearm to meet his clumsy blow with a rock and when she was still disorientated, he shot her in the chest with a blue flare.

**Gai: He saved her from being shredded.**

**Obito: Gai-he's not in a death match, and he knows that very well. **

**Gai: That would not have been death. It would have meant the end of her career perhaps, but not death.**

**Obito: Yeah…well, I like to think that our teams get on better than that to let each other get hurt that badly even in a fight.**

She screamed, the burning metal searing through the fabric on her torso. He had done it point blank so the force of the flare and the combined pain of the light and heat sent her collapsing to her knees, scrabbling at her chest.

"I'm so sorry." Naruto babbled. "But I can't stop here."

**Gai: It does not matter Naruto-kun, an injury like that is preferred over shrapnel in the spine.**

Neji growled low and bestial before his left arm went painfully numb as the Hyuuga attacked. He cursed mentally before swapping out, not even bothering to stop and counter the enraged boy. Neji's head snapped towards him, rainbow eyes narrowing into lethal slits as Lee knelt next to a gasping Tenten.

"You can't stop here." Neji sneered, mouth a thin line and a gash of shadow in the flickering light thrown on his face. "Well then Uzumaki, where are you going?" He tilted his head to the side. "You've left your team mates behind and you give us the insult of not even giving affording us the time to properly clash."

"I don't know what fighting you expect me to do." Naruto said simply. "We simply haven't been trained like that. We fight, I will lose and that is that. And that's not an option right now."

"How can you say those words with _that _inside you?" Neji asked scathingly. "We've seen the destruction coils like that can cause, Rai-the land-mass nearly cracked in half from the power."

**Rin: *straighten***

**Asuma: What is he talking about? What land-mass?**

**Rin: *stunned* Is he-?**

**Obito: It was just a matter of time I suppose before the current generation of Hyuuga connected the dots.**

**Gai: He does not know what it is, do not worry rival!**

**Obito: How?**

**Asuma: I'm sorry? Land-mass nearly crack in half? Am I the only one focusing on that? **

**Gai: He did not use the word Kyuubi or Biju, Neji is not one to hold back if he knows the more appropriate word. He has just come to the conclusion that the coils inside Naruto-kun are ferociously powerful.**

**Rin: …Is he talking about Uzu? The storm and huge disturbance?**

**Obito: Can't be. They were near Rain at the time. Maybe something just happened there.**

**Rin: True.**

**Asuma: he did say 'Rai'; isn't that contradicting what you said Gai? Rain would be the more appropriate word to use here.**

**Gai: His springtime of youth is still in the bloom.**

**Asuma: What.**

**Obito: He has no idea as Neji's character is still growing.**

Lee charged Naruto, Neji kept looking at him like he expected an answer even when Naruto was busy running and swapping away from Lee's ridiculously powerful kicks and punches. The boy in the green spandex smoothly shifted from a punch to a spinning kick to a roll to weave around on his toes to follow Naruto wherever he went.

Tenten was standing, the front of her torso a smudged mess of wet leather and her hand applied pressure, the edge of it too red for Naruto's liking.

**Rin: Oh she's up, I like her.**

"You brat." She bared her teeth. "Come here and try that again. I _dare _you." She gave a sharp nod in Neji's back and some of the tension in his shoulders eased. With a start Naruto realised that Neji hadn't been attacking him because then his female team mate wouldn't have a line of defence when she was injured. It must have torn at his soul but Neji had stayed exactly where he was ready to give Tenten aid if she needed it or to support Lee if Naruto provided too tricky to handle.

Lee ducked away and the bloodlust in the air spiked.

He dimly saw Neji thrust his palm at the air, something went 'whoosh', something went snap and he realised it was his lower right rib and he only realised he had been sent flying when he crashed into the ground hard a few yards away. He gritted his teeth, dirt and blood filling his mouth and spat out blood from where he had bit his cheek.

**Obito: *shift* *shift***

**Gai: They will not seriously harm him rival, rest assured. They are not cruel.**

Tenten's boot hit the back of his head and buried it in the dirt.

"Tenten-flower!"

"Yeah, yeah I won't break anything but my chest hurts like a son of a bitch. I won't hold the grudge when this is over, don't worry."

This was taking up far too much time Naruto thought in despair and it didn't look like his senpais would let him go anytime soon either. He brought his fingers up for the cross seal from where they were crushed under his body and poured every bit of chakra he could into the jutsu.

It sounded rather like a smoke grenade going off and the weight on him increased dramatically as dozens and dozens of clones all appeared on top of him, Tenten's boot disappeared thankfully. He was buried in a pile of Narutos all squabbling and sniping at each other as they scrambled to get up and face the rather dumbstruck Team 9.

**Asuma: HOLY- Uchiha! What have you taught that genin?**

**Obito: Now, now, no need to swear to me like a god. I'm good I know, but you'll get there one day.**

**Asuma: One of these days I am sending you to the hospital with your tongue stapled to the roof of your mouth.**

**Rin: That's amazing Obito…**

**Gai: *booming laugh***

"Tch." He heard Neji sound _done _with Naruto's trouble.

The dumbstruck feeling didn't last very long to Naruto's chagrin. He felt his clones die by air, by punches and by kunai shots to the forehead, every member of the older team covering each other's backs as they worked on removing the wall of Naruto's surrounding them. Fire raged in the clearing and during the fight they had moved further and further from the scene of hellish destruction.

He paused.

Fire.

He pulled a stack of exploding tags from his pocket, he had received these as a gift, but they would be really useful here. He held a corner to the flames and when they caught alight he tossed them to where Team 9 was battling. The burning tags let out a noxious gas coated with chakra and Naruto knew from experience that when it hit the eyes it stung like a jellyfish had pierced the eyeball with electrified tentacles.

Hyuuga eyes were eyes first and foremost. Not even they were immune to the tear gland and nerves activating. And hopefully if Lee and Tenten couldn't see, they would stop being so precise.

Very conscious of time Naruto swapped with a nearby log and kept going, hundred yards at a time leaving the battlefield behind. Twelve substitutions and fifteen minutes of nonstop running making his surroundings a blur later he came to a stop and hid behind a tree, checking for any followers.

He needed to learn Shunshin he decided.

**Gai: …**

**Obito: *looking at fingernails* I told you I taught them to run away. **

**Asuma: I'm curious, did you teach them any offence? I didn't see him use one offensive form.**

**Obito: He knows the ones the Academy taught him but I concentrated more on things like rapid substitution. *Point* I know chunin who'd have a hard time tracking twelve substitutions at that pace; I'm sorry Gai but no genin is going to catch **_**my **_**student.**

**Gai: *grumble* I need to teach them tracking and chakra sensing.**

**Rin: Are you saying they just know their clan techniques and taijutsu? And weapons in the case of the girl?**

**Gai: Yes?**

**Rin: Then in that case I don't think either of Team 7 or 9 should get promoted until they're more rounded individuals. Specialising is fine for Jonin but Chunin need to be all rounded. **

Naruto hoped that Sasuke and Sakura had got the message and skedaddled out of Neji's range just in case the smoke trick hadn't worked. He'd rather his brief clash with them have not been for nothing.

A leech fell.

He flailed, observed how slowly it seemed to be falling, calmly stepped out of the way and flailed again when it burst on the ground and the liquids made the ground hiss and steam.

A leech…just committed suicide?

Then there were dozens falling out of the sky. His jaw dropped. They were all committing suicide? He stepped out of the way each time, watching the acids splash on the ground like a horrible parody of rain. He felt rather horrible, was it his presence causing them to kill themselves? A few insects buzzed around him he slapped them away.

"No!" A female voice shrieked. "Stop it!"

His head snapped up. Hinata?

The Hyuuga girl dropped from a tree and waved her arms. "Stop it guys! He's a friend!"

The flying leeches stopped and Naruto realised that he had walked into another trap.

**Rin: *smile* *smile***

**Asuma: Why did they stop? I mean, they obviously knew who he was and still attacked.**

"Kiba. Shino." Naruto greeted. "Hinata"

The two genin dropped out of the foliage. Kiba still wore the same furry hoodie he wore at the Academy with scarlet streaks on his cheeks, teeth too sharp to be natural. Shino cut a dark figure in all the greenery; dark curly hair, dark coat, dark mass of bugs poking threateningly from out of his sleeve.

"Uzumaki-san." Shino said quietly. "We thought you were a fake. My apologies, it was only logical as we saw your team be drawn aside and led down a different corridor."

Kiba stared at him, the curve of his grin insulting. "Well, you got separated from your team." He swaggered forward a step. "Who were you running from with your tail between your legs?"

"Was there a purpose to killing the leeches?" Naruto asked interested. He poked at the hissing remains of one with the tip of his sandal.

"Yeah, we got a few teams who forgot the bugs were much more dangerous here. All the same scrolls though, what chance." Kiba said casually jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Since we thought you weren't from here, we thought it had a shot of working on you."

"If you are wondering why you did not hear them screaming." Shino said politely. "This particular species of leech has a mild sedative as well as rows of teeth, acid and poison. Everyone collapsed before even thinking of causing a fuss."

Naruto eyed the bugs surrounding Shino and decided to take his word on it and trust that he knew what he was talking about.

"Oh hey." He said slightly startled. "I think Obito-Nii gets his paralysis solutions from these."

**Obito: I do.**

**Asuma: Much better than the water they sell at the pharmacy.**

**Obito: You know it.**

"Did I say mild sedative?" Shino asked blandly. "Apologies."

Naruto eyed the boy warily.

"I am so sorry." Hinata bowed to him flustered, tips of her ears turning red. "I thought I was seeing things when I saw your chakra and they misunderstood me asking them to find you. How are you here?"

"Happy accident mainly."

"What." Both Kiba and Shino said. All three of them looked at Naruto who was trying to pull Hinata out of her bow. He could sense this was going to be a recurring thing. He knew she was talking about vote. Kiba and Shino thought she was talking about the whole being led away thing.

"Oh." He flapped a hand. "That was just a random draw to see how we deal with bad luck. They drew our names out of a hat to make it trickier for us as chunin randomly have to deal with situations like that."

**Rin: Should I be worried about how well he can lie?**

Kiba's tongue was very pink against the whites of his teeth. "Were you running away from the bad luck right now?" He cast a look behind Naruto.

Naruto pointed at him. "_Yes. _Absolutely." He clapped his hands together. Pause. "What scroll do you guys have?"

"None of your business." Kiba snapped, seeming to suddenly remember he was a fellow competitor.

"Heaven." Hinata answered. He gaped at her betrayal.

Shino looked at her. "Excuse Hinata-san. Why did you want to find him?"

She opened her mouth and Naruto inferred that she hadn't told her team about her alliance. He cut in to save time.

"Lend me Hinata for an hour or two and I'll give you this." He held up their Earth scroll. Kiba's eyes locked on to it like he had held up a dog treat, Akamaru's head popped out of his hoodie and barked.

"Impossible." Shino said flatly. "Why? We cannot lend you anyone. We do not own Hinata-san to lend her away."

Naruto blinked. And was horrified.

**Rin: **_**Good **_**boy.**

**Obito: You may be mixing up the words of praise for the Inuzuka and the Aburame. But I agree.**

"That's not what I meant!" He stuttered. "I just want her help for a few hours, she'll be fine and I'm offering you a deal here! I'm sorry Hinata-san, I never meant it like that."

"Hinata is not going anywhere without us." Kiba's top canines looked particularly sharp against his lower teeth.

"I owe your team a huge debt." Hinata told him softly. "You do not need this deal to have my help. Kiba, Shino I'm sorry but I will catch up to you later."

Shino's glasses reflected Naruto's face in them. He looked like a blob with more blobs for features. It was very flattering.

"No." He said firmly. "If you help me, you get the scroll."

"Your team assisted in the retrieval of Hyuuga Hanabi?" Shino asked quietly. "Why I think that? It is the only possible conclusion from the evidence before me."

Kiba's eyes snapped to him, eyes assessing and intense. "That true?"

"Ah." Naruto said. "Yes, mostly Sasuke though. But yes."

Team 8 looked at him, faces unreadable. The male members were like two walls of silence. Even Akamaru was silent with his tongue hanging out between his teeth. Naruto shifted from feet to feet.

"Guys I'm kind of on a schedule here." He was keenly aware that Sasuke and Sakura were up against a hunting Team 9 (why weren't they focusing on the test for Kami's sake?) and was impatient to return.

"Blood debt." Kiba growled.

"Offering of a deal rather than a demand." Shino noted. They looked at each other and Naruto realised that since they were all from old clans, the whole pride and debt thing probably meant something to them as well.

"We withdraw our objections." Shino announced. "Why? A blood debt must be honoured. Your offer is not necessary but highly appreciated. We will support our team mate in her decision to make you her ally."

"You know you could have told us before." Kiba told Hinata exasperatedly, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "Did you think we were going to say no or something? If the dudes and dudette saved your sister, yeah of course, we'd help you repay that debt. It should have been our job to help you!"

"I didn't want to jeopardise your concentration." Hinata explained, eyes a little moist. "And I am really committed to becoming chunin with you guys-"

"Your honour demands you repay the debt." Shino nodded. "Perfectly understandable and justified, if a little inconvenient. Naruto-san, how can we help you?"

**Gai: You have raised an excellent team Rin-san! Their comradery is heart-warming!**

**Obito: Yeah, you really taught them sensei's morals huh.**

**Rin: *shrug* It wasn't hard. The Inuzuka value loyalty. The Aburame value teamwork and I think Hinata was glad to have friends.**

**Asuma: How harsh…**

Naruto was a little taken aback. "Wait, all of you are going to help me?"

Keep up man." Kiba growled. "The faster her debt is repaid, the faster we can pass. Thanks by the way for the scroll, you totally saved us."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he handed the scroll over to a smirking Kiba who tucked it away.

**Obito: Oh look at that. How adorable, our students are trying to cooperate.**

**Rin: Aww.**

**Obito: Aww.**

**Asuma: Stop pouting Gai, I'm sure your team will get their revenge at being abandoned.**

Naruto hazarded a chancy question. "Any of you know a destructive enough jutsu to blow through a ten feet thick concrete wall?"

Hinata looked mortified. "If I had known-"

"That's a no Uzumaki." Kiba sighed. "Do I want to know?"

Damn. To be fair his plan just hit a huge blank after 'find Hinata and get her to help him find a spot that wasn't covered by cameras, with thin walls and no chunins around'. But that was alright. He was an Uzumaki. Destruction was in his blood.

Causing destruction without attracting any attention might be a tougher call however.

"Are either of you any good at annoying people from long distances?" He asked. "And trust me you'll want to be a long distance away."

"I can suck people's chakra out of their body using my swarm." Shino said modestly. "I find it annoys people considerably."

"Brilliant." Naruto said. "You're a scary guy aren't you? Hey I'm a friend, categorise me as a friend in your brain ok?"

Shino inclined his head once.

**Asuma: Smooth.**

"Right so." Naruto pointed in the direction he had come from. "About a lot in that direction is Team 9 including Hinata's scary cousin, a green blur and a woman who can lift a sword the size of a small house. Would you mind awfully distracting them for me? Do _not _get close."

"Geez." Kiba said. "That's it?"

"That's _it_?" Naruto repeated incredulously.

He rolled his eyes. "Mate, do you know what debts usually are repaid by? Marriage contracts, significant fractions of assets, a super rare thigh bone of a famous relative if you're into that. Distracting three genin? That…would be almost insulting except I know you're not doing it on purpose."

Naruto gave him a thumbs up.

"What about me?" Hinata asked.

"We're finding a part of the wall that's thin, not covered by cameras and is relatively unpopulated on both sides." He told her. She nodded thinking hard, then her dormant eyes blazed into life as the prominent veins bulged.

**Rin: Second one's not happening. *chuckle* **

**Asuma: Yeah, I saw the plans. Everywhere is triple covered just to be sure.**

"Stay safe Hinata-san." Shino said as he and Kiba turned to leave. Kiba hugged her with Akamaru licking her face.

"I have faith that we can protect ourselves." Hinata smiled at him.

**What did you guys think? Team 9 clash and now Team 8 get involved in the action as well. Poor Obito, for having to deal with such a troublesome team.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Sorry for the bit of a glitch in the update schedule, but here's the chapter now ****.**

"Why are you trying to leave?" Hinata asked him as they sped through the forest. "Is this to do with the fact your replacement team was taken aside?"

"Yup." Naruto landed on his hands and cartwheeled along the ground. "We have to get to Rain in three days and I've been put in charge of getting out of here."

"Three days?" She looked at him like he had said something crazy.

**Gai: Don't you need to get there as well rival?**

**Obito: Oh I will as soon as my trio of idiots get their shit together and get something hashed out because they are all over the place at the minute.**

**Gai: Well Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan are avoiding my team rather impressively if it's any consolation. And Rin-flower's team should enter the scene in a few minutes, they're not…totally hopeless.**

"There's a guard by each door so far Naruto-kun." Hinata murmured and Naruto gritted his teeth. She slowed down to spin around a tangle of vines.

"Woah!" Naruto pushed Hinata in the back to speed her up. "Don't slow down."

"Is there something wrong Naruto-kun?" She asked urgency lacing her words as she jumped over monstrous roots under interlocking canopies. The forest was vast with trees wider than most houses reaching high into the sky holding all sorts of creatures in their branches and roots. Green light and darkness tinted everything as the duo sped underneath.

Naruto tilted his head back as he flipped over a branch at head height. He had been feeling bloodlust in the air ever since they had entered the grounds but it had been muted and aimed at everyone. But just for a second some of that bloodlust had sharpened into a pin point and a warning chill had run down his spine.

"Yes." He answered. "I think we're being watched."

**Asuma: He has some pretty good senses Uchiha, what on earth have you been feeding them?**

**Obito: Heh, never underestimate my kids.**

**Rin: Naruto's instinct has always been strong.**

Hinata's eyes were wide, blank and bulging at the veins. She didn't stop but her expression grew fiercer as she concentrated.

"Yes." She whispered softly. "You are right. There is someone a hundred metres away at an angle of thirty five degrees from the horizontal in our two'o clock direction. Naruto-kun…they're not genin, their chakra network is far too developed."

"Give me a smoke screen." Naruto murmured, increasing his speed as fingers fell into his familiar cross shape.

Hinata spun, leaping off one foot and bent so that her fingers dragged through the dirt throwing up a chakra enhanced dust cloud before she bent somehow in mid-air and continued with the other hand and landing perfectly on her feet, still running.

_Kage bunshin! Henge!_

Fourteen copies of Naruto and Hinata sped away from the dust cloud all in different directions.

"Umm Naruto-kun." Hinata, henged as Naruto, murmured nervously. "Why are we running towards the person?"

"Because only an idiot does that." Naruto, henged as Hinata, answered ducking underneath a branch, leaving a breeze behind as they ran. "If he's smart he'll realise the ones running away are a decoy and we'll be running towards him but still _away _from him for maximum advantage. Only a complete idiot would run towards him and I'm hoping he'll throw a few kunai at us and just pass us by while we release the henge we have on now."

"If he's a bit smarter than that?" Hinata whispered incredulously.

"Kawarimi is our friend if he's smarter than that." Naruto smiled at her to prove that he had thought this through and hadn't gone with a suicidal plan.

**Obito: Every single area is triple covered?**

**Rin: Yes?**

**Obito: *tap screen* Then **_**why **_**can't I see my student? *static***

**Gai: *silence***

**Asuma: *silence***

**Rin: *silence***

**Obito: Motherfuc-**

She stiffened. "There's two of them now!"

Her head snapped to the side in alarm, "Naruto-kun! Your clo-"

And he felt them die. Dizzying flashes of pale scales, searing red mouths and darkness flooded his brain and he lost his train of through for a second. What the hell? He changed his mind abruptly.

"_Run_." He urged and they changed direction sharply. Anyone who could attack his clones simultaneously while standing still was not worth taking on at this time. And he had a friend. Joy.

A flash of dirty scales. Sunlight flashing off two long swords. A snake with a body as wide as a tree trunk reared its head, mouth extended to its fullest extent on their path as it waited for them to run in.

He swore. She shrieked. They scrambled to change direction and they managed – the snake's monstrous head smashed into where they had been, hissing like a vat of boiling oil, throwing up dust and clods of earth as it left a small crater behind. Hinata was pale and looked seconds away from hyperventilating.

White snakes.

WHITE SNAKES.

What the fuck was Orochimaru of the Densetsu no _Sannin, bounty of half a village treasury, the Slithering King himself doing here?_

_"Ah." Came an unfamiliar voice from above. A Kusa genin elegantly jumped onto the giant snake's head and surveyed them imperially. A hat shadowed the top part of his face, his hands were long and beautifully formed (What? The same one who had been smiling creepily earlier? This was not Orochimaru) Dark hair spilled out from under his hat and Naruto hesitated to meet the dark pits where the eyes should be because that seemed like he was issuing a challenge. Every single movement the foreign genin did spoke of an unbelievable grace, limbs long and thin and Naruto suddenly became aware that apart from when he had spoken, the genin had made absolutely no sound at all._

_He swallowed. Maybe he could admit this could be Orochimaru. In disguise? They were so screwed._

_Hinata meeped. He whirled around to see the second genin enter the clearing at their backs. _

_'Genin'?_

_Pale hair ran down the second genin's back in a spiked braid. Dark blue eyes like ink spilled on snow conveyed his amusement at the cornered genin._

_They were trapped between a possible Sannin standing on a mammoth snake's head and a blank faced uncertainty. But there was one thing he was sure of, the second one was not another Sannin and if they expected them to escape they would expect them to take that side to flee from._

_"You were one of the genin removed before the test." The first one murmured, leaping onto the leaf covered ground with nary a whisper. He straightened, his eyes came into view, white flashes in his face. Naruto's spine crawled._

_"Not quite." His voice was slightly hoarse._

_"Ah." The Kusa genin said. "Dispell the henge." He sounded very well educated, with each syllable pronounced separately and it sounded like his words were all chosen with great care._

_He did so. His tattooed henge seemed like a flimsy mask at best now but there was a chance of it working._

_"I said." The Kusa genin said softly. "Dispell the henge."_

_There was a threat in that soft voice. Feathers skimming the edge of a blade. Silk sliding off steel._

_This was very bad. But Naruto let it drop and the boy with the hat smiled humourlessly._

_"So Sasuke-kun is indeed in the forest. You have my thanks, teammate of his."_

_His protective instinct flared. He was after Sasuke? What did Sasuke have that a Sannin could want? Oh fuck-there was a Sannin after Sasuke._

_"What do you want from him?" And Naruto was proud because it came out strong like he wasn't afraid, because he was, and who wouldn't be frightened upon coming face to face with a Sannin and having him declare an interest in your brother. He was afraid for Sasuke and that was the difference between him backing down and running away and him calling a Sannin back._

_"Everything." The Kusa Nin replied, words weaving webs in Naruto's mind like a legion of spiders. "And I think I will start with you." He patted the monstrous snake on its flank and it hissed in vicious amusement._

_"How did you get in?" Naruto asked and Hinata sent him a look and he knew she knew what he was thinking. "No, no I have a better question. How do you plan on getting out?"_

_"Is that a threat?" The Sannin asked sounding dreadfully amused._

_"No." Naruto answered. He didn't elaborate. _

_"Hmm." The Kusa genin considered. "Nagi. Eat him."_

_He heard Hinata scream. He saw a wide red and black cavern suddenly engulf him and he felt the sickening realisation that the snake had been holding back the first time._

_Then the next thing he realised was that it was hot. It was wet, slippery and cramped. The muscles of the throat bunched against his struggling form and he kept his eyes and mouth tightly shut to avoid filling them with mucus and saliva. It was very lucky he wasn't claustrophobic. It felt like he was being squeezed through a fleshy tube and the worst part was that the way he had been swallowed meant that his head was below his feet and the blood was rushing to his head._

_He dragged his hands together, the heat of the bunching slick muscles actually making him feel sick._

_Oh he would enjoy this._

_The Sannin was after his brother, Naruto could slow him down by brutally killing his pet._

_"Kage Bunshin" He whispered, moving as little of his lips as possible. It helped his teeth didn't have to prise apart during the pronunciation._

_He felt like he was being put through a pair of rollers as the pressure dramatically increased. He gasped as something in his chest protested with a creak._

_The flesh gave with a sickening ripping sound. Blood rushed into his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He was falling and landed rolling on his hands, straight up into a defensive pose, deaf and blinded. He spat out the rancid blood and wiped his eyes out hastily. Was Hinata alright?_

_The snake lay on the ground, throat split like a used banana skin, his clones littering the ground and emerging from the wound like very short and blonde worms. Blood was everywhere and it was his first time seeing it in this much quantities; he had underestimated the stench copious amounts of blood had._

_He brushed the bloody pieces of dark crimson flesh off his shirt and coughed. His sandals squelched when he moved them._

_The second genin was smiling widely, blue eyes narrowed to a pleased slit. The Sannin was staring at the corpse of its pet like Naruto had managed to do something interesting. There was a blood splatter up his cheek. Poor Hinata hadn't been spared and her jacket was more purple than blue now._

_Maybe the Sannin was taking it easy on them because maybe he thought they thought he was a genin. Or maybe it was because most skilled ninja tended to start off playful because it was laughable to go full strength against someone obviously far less competent. He had fully been expecting to come back to Hinata's corpse._

_"If I had time." The Kusa Nin said genially. "I would point out the flaw in your technique before removing your head from your body. But I don't, so interesting team mate of Sasuke-kun'-"_

"Brother." The second genin spoke for the first time. He was smiling lazily. "I believe they are brothers Orochimaru-san. Oh don't look at me like that, he already knew."

He felt like crawling up inside his skull and screaming. Why couldn't he have been wrong? And who on earth was the second guy?

"Let me deal with these two." The pale genin continued, fingers sweeping out at Naruto and Hinata. "The boy seems interesting and I have unfinished work with the Hyuuga. That leaves you free to go after your target."

Pale hair. Unfinished work with the Hyuuga. Naruto accidentally swore out loud.

Firudo grinned at him lazily, the curve of his mouth was viciously amused.

Firudo and Orochimaru working together. Now there was a combo for the nightmares.

"What business do you have with my family?" Hinata asked, voice slightly higher than normal, but she stood firm Naruto noted approvingly.

"He was the one to kidnap your sister." Naruto answered before Firudo did. Orochimaru tilted his head.

"You're a well-informed genin aren't you?" He said chillingly. "Figuring both of us out at a glance."

"Hah." Naruto said not feeling as brave as he sounded. "You say that like both of you didn't put blaring signs of your identities before us."

Firudo chuckled.

Hinata had gone very still. "You took my sister." She repeated in a breath too faint to be a sign of weakness. Rin used the same faint breathy voice when she was on the precipice of fury and outrage.

Oh no.

Oh no oh no.

"What are _you _doing here?" He asked loudly stepping forward and trying to ignore the way Hinata's face had wiped itself blank.

Firudo tapped his chin. "Well I had a reason I'm sure." He glanced at Hinata. "Maybe I came here to have a laugh at how pathetic the soldiers my former home turning out are." He smiled at her kindly, condescension and amusement wrapped up in soft calm words. "But then if the raw fuel they have to work with is weak I can't fault Konoha."

Hinata's chin was high. "My sister is not weak."

Firudo chuckled and shifted to his other foot. "Wasn't talking about her sweetheart."

Hinata's face tightened into angry lines. She looked ridiculously young when she was frowning and when her forehead was pinched.

Orochimaru sighed irritably from the corner of Naruto's vision where he had been keeping an eye on them both. The Kusa genin hopped up onto a branch and surveyed the situation coolly.

"You will handle these two." And for the life of him Naruto could not understand if that was a question or a command. But it sent a chill down his spine all the same.

"Hey!" He snarled. "Leave Sasuke alone!"

"Why?" The Sannin asked pleasantly. "He is of use to me."

"Because your reputation is infamous as a traitor and whatever you want him for can't be good." Naruto spluttered. It felt very surreal having a conversation with the man after he had given the order for Naruto to be killed.

"Emotional attachment." Orochimaru mused. "That could be difficult if Sasuke-kun reciprocates. It really is fortunate you are here and he is not. Firudo."

The second genin laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make that brat's head touch the ground."

Naruto was forced to let go of all subtlety and grab Hinata by the shoulders correctly guessing that her tenuous hold on her temper had snapped. He had been right, if he had been a second later Hinata would have leapt at Firudo's throat with an intent to kill.

"You attack without a plan, you will get killed." He whispered, tightening his grip to try and soothe the furious trembling in Hinata's limbs.

"My sister would have suffered a life of an animal because of him." She hissed. "Losing her eyes, parts of her body, her dignity! I cannot let that go Naruto-kun!"

"What he did was unforgivable." Naruto agreed. "But trust me that man probably stands on even footing with Zabuza Momochi. _Orochimaru _brought him along. Your pride and love for your sister is admirable, it genuinely is, but don't get killed for it now."

Hinata twisted her head to look at him. "Does that mean?" She asked hollowly, "That you'll let Orochimaru go after your brother because you'll get killed if you attack him?"

Naruto's breath froze in his lungs. He would never do that!

"My sister is the hope of the Hyuuga. Her along with Neji Nii-san." Hinata spoke. "I _will _protect them and this man made me break that promise I made to myself." She shook herself free. "Our siblings are in danger Naruto-kun, I know what I'm going to do. What about you?"

Naruto felt like laughing even though there was nothing funny about this situation. He should have seen this coming, it was Hinata's fierce gratitude that had secured the alliance between them in the first place. Where was this strength when she was acting as Head Absentito? How very unfair.

The two missing Nins' eyes crawled like scorpions down their bodies.

Two genin up against two metaphorical monsters in human form. Naruto's mouth tightened; he could even the odds slightly but bringing a third monster into the mix could just kill Hinata. He had almost no experience in using the Kyuubi's power in combat and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't snap and go berserk. That was what happened in the stories when people used powers that weren't theirs.

"Hey." He said to Orochimaru. "If you stick around for five minutes, I'll show you something interesting."

"Oh I hardly think so." The Sannin said. "Your brother is far more fascinating at the moment to me. The Uchiha Heir with one of the least protected set of Sharingan eyes in the world. Can you see why I don't want to waste my time with trash like you?"

"I'm going to move away from here." Naruto murmured to Hinata so that the two adults couldn't hear him or read his lips. "My kekkei genkei is destructive and extremely so. Under no circumstance follow me. I may not be myself."

There was just one problem with this plan. He didn't actually know how to use the Kyuubi's chakra. He didn't know what he was looking for inside himself to access that ferocious power. Luckily he had a Hyuuga.

"Also." He added. "Chakra strike me to the stomach would you?"

Hinata didn't ask a single question. Her eyes didn't narrow. Her face reminded Naruto of the marble cut masks Neji used most of the time. He had no idea what she was thinking he thought ruefully. She placed a hand on his stomach and he breathed in. The area in contact went rapidly numb and tingly as if the blood supply had been cut off.

"In fact." He said through numb lips. "Cut it all off. Seal off every single primary coil in my body."

Hinata's jaw muscle jumped but the tingly feeling spread making him feel like he was floating in thin air. This was such a stupid plan.

"You plan to fight." Firudo said gleefully. "Well here's a tip for you brats. Do all your preparation before!" His voice rose as if he was going to attack and the two of them ducked and spun away only to find him grinning and rocking back on his heels in the exact same place he had always been.

There was an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach and Naruto felt very uncomfortable. It was as if he had swallowed acid and the corrosive liquid was trying to burn through his stomach and intestines. His throat was the acidic pipe it became before he vomited.

"You-" Hinata cut herself off looking strangely sad. "What ugly coils."

"Yeah." Naruto gasped. He raised his hand and flicked his wrist at the mildly curious Orochimaru.

There was the sound of thunder breaking directly overhead, his eardrums protested furiously and the trees in the line of his flick stood still for a second, hanging in the air with a shiver, their trunks having disintegrated in that blast of chakra, the bark rotting and breaking apart from the edges.

Then they fell with an almighty crash, branches snapping, leaves sounding like a hurricane. The very ground shook with the force they hit the ground. They hit other trees and stuck, until the area they were standing in resembled a box of very messy pencils.

**Asuma: Anko says she's not going to investigate unless something more concrete shows up.**

**Rin: …More cameras just short circuited.**

**Asuma: That's the thing, some genin can be good enough to take out cameras if they feel like they're being spied on. She won't go in until there's proof there's something seriously wrong. Otherwise Konoha loses face at panicking about skilled genin.**

**Obito: Is she seriously going to ignore the sonic boom right now?**

**Asuma: She pulled a file for me, there's a Sound team in there and one of them has power over Sound waves. There **_**is **_**a rational explanation for this. Obito, calm down, I know it's your student but that's just a coincidence.**

**Rin: Excuse **_**me**_**, my student is there as well.**

**Asuma: Sorry but I thought you were distracted by the rest of your team and Gai's team.**

**Gai: *intently watching screen* Our genin are ingenious and resourceful rival, do not worry, and let them mature in combat. It is the only way they will gain strength. Look how youthful my team is and they achieved this only through experience!**

**Obito: …Alright, but I don't like this.**

_OhmyKami. Whatthefuck. Whatthe_genuine_fuck._

Even Firudo's grin slipped off his face for a second. Chakra blasts faster than the speed of sound weren't _that _funny. Hinata looked as if one feather blow could knock her over.

He had put as much energy in that blast as he would put into a long distance Kawarimi. _That _was the power of a Biju. He gasped as the pain in his stomach spiked and his head swam slightly; this was crucial, if he lost control Hinata died. His shock faded quickly into flabbergasted irritation and resignment when Orochimaru slid down one of the tree trunks that was diagonally resting on another. Seriously? It hadn't even given him a scratch?

"_So_." The Snake Sannin hissed. He reached up and ripped part of his face off revealing one malevolently glittering eye and sharp cheekbones set in a face so pale they nearly matched the white of his eyes. Naruto's feet felt like there were iron nails driven through them.

He and Hinata watched in horrified silence as the Sannin ripped his face off and peeled the skin from his hands like gloves. Purple marks surrounded golden eyes and maybe Naruto was imagining things, but that was the intensity of a wild animal.

"Maybe I can spare a minute for an impudent child." Orochimaru rotated his wrist, fingers bending into almost breaking positions.

There was a slight breeze at his back. Hinata had taken towards Firudo like a comet but he couldn't see! If he turned his back on Orochimaru he would die. That was fact. But Firudo against Hinata had an obvious outcome! He couldn't let her die after entering an alliance with her!

He swung blast after blast at the Sannin; thunderclaps echoing, air rippling with the shockwaves as everything in the way disintegrated. A coiling anger tightened in his stomach making his attacks more powerful as they started to leave trenches in the ground. How dare the man go after his brother? How _dare _he.

**Obito: You want me to ignore that as well? The very ground is shaking from the blasts. You want me to believe a genin can do that much damage?**

**Rin: Tch. Our view is limited Obito, the more of the cameras get taken out, the less we can see of what's happening. But for anyone to get past Anko and her team…that's a tall order.**

**Obito: And so, whoever did it is dangerous and we're just sitting around finding rational answers to the events instead of following our instinct. My instinct is that my genin are in danger.**

**Asuma: Of course they're in danger. They're in the Chunin Exams, there can be monsters in there. Sit tight Obito, reckless genin-**

**Obito: Che. That's easy for you to say when your team is safe and you can see them. I **_**dare **_**you to repeat the comment when they disappear and the area they were in blows up for some reason.**

There was a brush of fingers on his jaw as his head was snapped brutally to the side to meet the Sannin's cool yellow eyes. When had he got there? _How _had he got there without Naruto noticing? He fired point blank into the Sannin's chest and the man's image flickered, the grip of his jaw loosened slightly then returned as the man evaded and returned in a fraction of a second.

Frustration and fear was replaced by an irrational rage as his stomach felt like the acids were eating through the muscle layer and hitting the nerves.

"You look familiar." Orochimaru murmured turning his head this way and that and finally releasing him when Naruto swiped at him, corrosive chakra leaking from his fingers.

"What a filthy chakra. Reminds me of a woma-" Orochimaru stopped, turned an incredulous eye on him and began to laugh.

The anger in Naruto's grew. Was the man laughing at him? The Sannin had the gall to laugh like that after Naruto had released the power of a metaphorical god in order to fight him? He sent repeated blasts at the Sannin; trees disintegrated, thunder _boomed, _rocks atomised and the man almost danced his way this way and that avoiding each blast with ease.

"Hilarious isn't it?" Firudo spoke from behind them, his face clearly told Naruto how amused he was at the fact neither genin knew what Orochimaru had realised. He was slapping away Hinata's furious attacks with a gloved hand, not even paying attention to her, but some part of Naruto was glad that he was treating her like a child and not an enemy.

The Sannin's laughter teetered on the edge of madness. "Oh what cruel irony." He said to the sky. "To think that I'd meet your son and he would attack like there was no tomorrow." He clapped his hands and the ground shook, the earth cracked and scraped against each other as the mini earthquake turned the smooth ground into a playing field of shattered rocks and ill-fitting jigsaw pieces of land.

"Tell me boy." Orochimaru said, eyes shining like the sun lit them from behind, anticipation curving lines around his eyes and mouth. "What do you want to be?"

"Hokage." Naruto spat.

The Sannin's laughter was loud and joyous. It spoke of madness and obsession, it was the laughter of a man deriving the highest pleasure but the sound was twisted at the edges, like glass pieces piercing through silk and satin.

"I wanted to be Hokage once upon a time." Pleasure turned his words into a low hiss. "I was ready to die for this village. What nostalgic memories…"

Naruto adjusted his power output.

The area in front of him disappeared in a crunching roaring mess, his eardrums gave out in a spike of agony, the shockwave uprooted both Hinata and Firudo from their feet, the forest swayed and screamed as the pulse of the blast spread like a ripple in a pond.

**Obito: *leap up* Fuck, that's it.**

**Rin: Oh my Kami, that's **_**all **_**of them.**

**Gai: Rival…that destructive power…**

**Obito: *pacing* THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO ENTER THEM. WHY DOES NO ONE LISTEN TO ME?**

**Asuma: Anko still won't authorise it.**

**Obito: WHAT?!**

**Rin: WHY!?**

**Asuma: Oh just listen to her yourself. *hold out walkie talkie***

**Anko: Listen you idiots, yes I know the entire forest is shaking around like it decided to throw a tantrum. But the chakra signature we're picking up is the Uchiha's brat's. The blond one. The one that should be on the way to Rain-**

**Obito: They decided to try and be clever and it backfired on them! Never mind that, why won't you investigate?**

**Anko: Because it's laced with Biju chakra! Pay attention!**

**Gai: Isn't that more of a reason to investigate?**

**Anko: Oh ye Kami, use your heads. The Kyuubi is a weapon. Use of it ranks the same as the brat using a kunai. It's **_**his **_**weapon. We can tell him to be careful with it at other times but now he's operating under faux battle protocol: Anything goes. That's perfectly allowed in the rule book! **_**In fact **_**there's a section on Jinchuuriki! If they release their power we turn out priority destruction critical point to angry kage. We can't go barging in jutsus blazing because he's using what **_**we **_**put into him.**

**Obito: Are you …being serious right now? The Kyuubi could be running free in there-**

**Anko: HAVE MORE FAITH IN YOUR SENSEI'S SEAL BAKA UCHIHA. The only reason we interfere if there are unauthorised personnel in there.**

**Rin: Alright but who is he using the Kyuubi chakra against? Isn't that a cause for concern? Won't the other villages throw a fuss because a Jinchuuriki killed their genin?**

**Anko: I'm going to assume you mean the unfairness of pitting a Jinchuuriki against a genin and not the killing. And yeah they might but they've got no ground to argue on, they've all sent Jinchuuriki to exams before and they've all killed people. Don't worry your heads you little housewives, if we find anything suspicious we'll go in.**

What…awesome power…

There was a deep chuckle in his mind as the ringing in his head grew and grew.

_**Enjoying the taste of my glory brat?**_

His veins were singing to him. It was surreal but he could feel the flow in them; in the delicate tissues, in his neck and joints. It made him feel vulnerable but power sizzled in his blood and body and warmed him up from the inside. He could feel every heart beat-

How fragile was his body? It felt on the verge of giving out, it teetered on the edge of ruin and victory, walking the razor sharp wire of control and Naruto knew the fear of having an enemy inside his head.

"Kyuubi." He spoke in a whisper.

The voice in his head was deep and dark, like a tiger growling in a cage of paper, it resonated through his head and the whisperings of anger and vengeance at the corner of his mind grew stronger.

_**You're losing brat and badly. Why don't you take a break and leave things to me for a while? **_

Teeth grinning a Cheshire smile. Fangs grazing over his neck. Naruto's instincts screamed and his heart beat hard.

_**After all I can't let my host die.**_

"I am not losing." Naruto whispered, sending another shockwave rippling through the forest just in case Orochimaru had dodged the first one. He would not surprised if the whole forest of Death was shaking. This corrosive chakra like dog filth was not covering a wide enough area to alarm the examiners. There would be no help there.

_**You let me fight and they'll be dead within the minute.**_Came the dark promise. _**Can you afford to be picky when it's your friends' lives on the line?**_

"Who are you talking to Naruto-kun?" Firudo spoke from behind, head bent over Naruto's shoulders. His approach had been silent despite the rocking earth and pulsing air. He smiled at Naruto when his head snapped to the side and he skidded away.

_Where was Hinata?_

Orochimaru came out of nowhere, like a streak of pale colours and darkness and the punch he delivered to Naruto's stomach was enough for the genin to collapse on his knees and cough up blood. He was _losing. _

He could barely take on Orochimaru with the power of the Kyuubi. How could he take on Orochimaru _and _Firudo? The two adults stood over his form, surveying him with all the mocking indifference with one viewed an insect.

He blasted the ground, dialling his power dial up, the Kyuubi laughed loud and terrible, shaking the nerve centres in his body. The blast sent up plumes of dirt, earth and ash from the charred black earth. His hand was pale against the dark earth, with smudges across the popping bones in the back of his hands.

A radius of ten metres in every direction was charred black and he stood in the middle of a crater.

_**Your heritage is showing**__**.**_The Kyuubi whispered in his ear, voice soft as a feather balancing on the edge of a blade. With a jolt he realised instead of standing at a centre of a circle, he stood at the centre of a spiral. Somehow the explosion had carved his family crest into the ground instead of following the laws of physics.

**Asuma: I'm getting slightly worried at the skill of the opponent if Uzumaki feels the need to use the Kyuubi chakra for so long.**

**Obito: That's not how it works, he's inexperienced, if he uses it slightly it'll be a struggle for him to stop using it. This is stupid! I need to stop this.**

**Gai: Can't you argue that the Kyuubi is unauthorised personnel?**

**Anko: *static* Oh spare me! You think we're sitting here chatting and enjoying the show. I **_**know, **_**it's the fricking Kyuubi and we don't know what's happening. But the chakra sensors in the forest are still working, the level of the Biju chakra is under the Kushina-Mito line. Even considering how inexperienced the brat is, it's a perfectly safe amount of Biju chakra for him to use, what's amazing is how much damage he's wreaking with it. It's a quarter of the raw chakra Kushina-san needed to wreak the same amount of damage.**

**Rin: I never thought Naruto's first experience with the Kyuubi chakra would be without any supervision.**

**Obito: *cough* *choke***

**Asuma: Kurenai!**

**Gai: *whisper* Oh dear.**

**Kurenai: I heard about the situation. All of you are on an amber standby, orders from the top himself. We're to see how he can handle the chakra and if he's got sufficient control over it so that he can be properly trained with it.**

**Obito: You're treating him like an experiment?**

**Kurenai: No. I'm treating him like a soldier.**

**Obito: *glare* Are you-**

**Rin: Kurenai-san. Are you sure this is wise? Obito has the most experience out of all of us with dealing with Jinchuuriki and he feels very uncomfortable with his scenario. Surely there is some merit to his instinct?**

**Kurenai: The Jinchuuriki we are talking about is the equivalent to his **_**son.**_** His judgement is likely impaired and so his instinct is that of a concerned father and not a trained Jonin.**

**Obito: You overstep your limit. I am **_**both. **_

**Gai: Rival…**

**Asuma: Sheesh, what tension.**

"Oh spare me." Firudo muttered at the edge of the crater, fingers covering his eyes in exasperation. "I've had enough of Uzumakis and their unique brand of security. You know, Naruto-kun, if you are feeling threatened there are other ways to react than unleashing the power of a god. I don't think anyone in the history of your clan learnt that lesson."

"Where is Hinata?" He asked firmly.

Firudo's mouth curved into a humourless smile. "Why don't you ask again a bit more politely?" It wasn't a suggestion.

"Tch. How boring." The lines on Orochimaru's face tightened. "This isn't even a challenge."

He was…not good enough. He had all this power but it wasn't working. If he was the cannon packing tons of explosive power then Orochimaru and Firudo were the katanas, swift, elegant and packing deathly precision. But he could not give up now. He had to protect his team and Hinata.

_**You're an embarrassment**_**. **Kyuubi drawled. _**Imagine having the power to shear mountains to dust and still losing against two pieces of trash.**_

"Shut up." He muttered. "Shut up. I won't lose here."

_**You're thinking too much**_**.**The fox said disapprovingly. _**What if I try this? Will this trick work? And I'll tell you it won't because your **_**understanding**_** of me is lacking. You can try to control my power as much as you like but it'll blow up in your face every time. Face facts brat. All you can do is expel my power and destroy things like a child. You're a leaky faucet.**_

He shook his head. "The last Jinchuuriki could control your power and so could the one before her."

_**Don't flatter yourself. You don't even know their names, what do you know what they could do?**_

Naruto shook his head.

_**All you have to do**_**.**The Kyuubi said_. __**Is to give me a bit more control. You don't know what you're doing.**_

Anger soured his stomach as a rage rose inside him, growling its displeasure at the fact he was losing. If they had killed Hinata he would kill them.

It took him a few seconds to notice that the growling wasn't in his head and that it was his throat making those sounds. His skin was coated in a wiry red chakra and they extended over his fingers to form wickedly sharp points.

(What was this?) He snarled, the sight of the two unaffected missing Nin pissing him off so much his vision went funny with how hard he was glaring.

_**Bestial instinct and human logic don't mix well. Fall into despair fool. **_

He leapt off towards Orochimaru and was there in two bounds, speed massively boosted, the Sannin's kunai met his claws and the metal began to hiss and disintegrate, falling apart into tiny slivers of metal that ate itself up from the inside. Using the block as a pivot, Naruto swung his legs up and at the Sannin's head, the red chakra shaping itself into reaching hands with too many claws.

Something hard wrapped around his middle and threw him far away, tearing the skin off his arm and shoulder as he skidded on the ruined ground. Firudo stood there, pale braid hanging over his shoulder, a long black whip spiralling in the air around him as he spun his wrist to keep it moving.

"Naughty." He deadpanned.

Naruto's snarl ripped out of his throat so ferociously, his voice box hurt with the strain.

Something cracked and the left side of his face, chest and arm exploded in pain. His arm shot out and grabbed the end of the whip, his fury enhancing the corrosive chakra and it fell apart in his hands into a mess of burnt and tangled mush.

Firudo surveyed the two thirds of his whip that had survived. "…"

Naruto roared and punched the air. The resulting shockwave sent both Nin leaping back into the heights of the trees to avoid being picked up and smashed into the ground like a pair of ragdolls. He wanted to rip them apart, piece by piece with his fingers digging into the wet flesh and peel apart the muscles from the bones like an obscene fruit.

One swipe of his hand blew out the bases of all the trees in a twenty metre arc. They fell amongst the sound of thunder gracefully slow and relatively silently. Then they hit the ground and Naruto felt his bones judder. Then there was heat.

His eyes hurt from the intense light as a hissing searing snake formed from a twisting tornado of fire, eyes formed from points of white fire, body blazing with all the scales licking at the air. It flew up in spiralling circles, growing tighter and tighter until it streaked down from the sky like a shooting meteorite and slammed head first into where Naruto was standing.

Everything was burning. Everything was fire. Maybe Naruto was screaming. Maybe it was the Kyuubi laughing in his head. _Oh Kami _where was Hinata?

The remaining whip wrapped around his neck like a guillotine as Firudo hauled him to his feet, the muscles in his arm bunching as he pulled tight, eyes watching dispassionately.

"Even a demon depends on the host being conscious." He said softly, fire reflected in his blue eyes. Naruto wheezed, the pressure in his chest increasing dramatically. He couldn't breathe!

_**You know what would be nice in this scenario?**_The Kyuubi's voice was slightly strained. _**A demon fox with enough power to blow this exam ground to smithereens. Such a pity you don't have one of those.**_

His vision was going dark at the edges. No! He couldn't stop here! He had dreams; to become Hokage, to grow older with his team, to get rid of the parasite in his stomach.

"Help me." He mouthed. If he wanted to live he had no choice.

_**Why, I thought you'd never ask**__**.**_

**Leave a review on what you thought? **


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Here we go guys, Round 2 of Naruto and Hinata vs Orochimaru and Firudo.**

**Anko: Stop your squabbling! It's rising sharply, it's passed the Kushina-Mito line. The Kyuubi's the one in charge!**

**Kurenai: Override the Exam protocols, the boy's mind **_**must **_**be brought back to the front.**

**Obito: *slip on ANBU mask***

**Gai: *henge falls away * *Put on ANBU mask***

**Anko: Hai! **

His mouth opened against his will. "_**Cease this farce Heretic. Take on your true form. Mock me or mine and I will string you up as a gift to your false gods.**__"_ His jaw hurt as he tried to clench them together but they moved all the same. His hand came up and sliced through the whip cutting off his air supply like butter. The two piece of the whip dangled in Firudo's hands and he tossed them aside.

Firudo smiled and there was a hint of teeth in it.

"Who do you think you are?" He purred. "Lecturing me as if you're something scary when the brat in front of me has you on his leash. If you ask nicely he might take you for a walk and don't defile yourself on the sidewalk you pathetic demon fox, it's embarrassing."

"False gods?" Orochimaru asked softly, stepping up, boots making no noise on the littered debris.

"_**Wouldn't you like to know?"**_His mouth moved as if Naruto's teeth were too sharp and big to fit in his mouth. _**"It's pathetic. You can't accept that all your tragedy stems from your hatred and greed and so you made up some clay idols and blamed your follies as the 'acts of gods'. You pull the wool over your own eyes, lay your heads on the chopping block and release the axe but blame gravity for the bloodshed."**_

"There was a god on the island of Uzumaki." Firudo said, voice low and interested.

Naruto smiled. _**"If gods existed, I wouldn't. I am the sum of human malice. Make no mistake I am no agent of any god nor am I a god. Humanity brought me into existence just as it created the ideas of gods and it is my job to raise the veil from your feeble minds."**_

"Can we skip the philosophy?" Orochimaru asked irritably. "Spare us the sermon. Gods or no gods, what does it matter, our world remains exactly as it is."

"_**You asked."**_Naruto's shoulders raised in a shrug. Then the area was flooded with a bloodlust to thick even the two missing Nin stepped, eyes slightly wide.

"_**I have the feeling you're underestimating me because I'm in this fragile body."**_Naruto murmured, knuckle grazing his lip. _"__**This will help you I believe."**_

Firudo drew his sabre and the steel lit up with a cold flickering light. The Sannin bit his finger and left a trail of blood in the air as he swiped sharply. It twisted into the form of a sword with a diamond bright edge where the two faces met.

Naruto spun a kunai in his hand and stabbed it through his other palm. It hurt terribly having the small bones in his hand forced out of their place and blood ran down the kunai's hilt and splashed on the ground.

"_**Kage Bunshin Akuma."**_

Five clones appeared but to say they were clones would be a gross lie. They resembled Naruto alright with their blond hair and whisker marks but the slashes on their cheeks continued over their nose until it looked like their faces were split into multiple parts. Their eyes were a brighter, more eerie blue than his, their skin was a blistering red and black as if they had been burnt in hellfire and their joints bent in ways his never could.

The Kyuubi had denied he was a god, but he had laid claim to the title of demon.

The clones snarled, clear liquid dripping down the edge of their burnt lips and moved. Naruto had no way to describe how they moved, it looked like how a wolf ran but their joints bent back and sideways and he recognised some of his own athletic ability in how they zig zagged all over the place.

Firudo's sabre was a flash of white and one of the clones' legs, arms and head flew in different directions as it kept approaching.

"What the-" Firudo muttered as the severed limbs clawed their way to him, the torso rolled and the head bounced towards him, teeth bared in an animalistic snarl. Orochimaru thrust one palm into a clone's chest and the ribs exploded in a spray of bone and flesh, blood marked the explosion in a spiky flower on the ground but then the clone latched on to his wrist with his other hand and sunk its teeth into his arm and ripped off a piece of flesh.

Naruto watched with his eyes half shut in a pleasure that was not his.

The Sannin ripped off the offending clone and turned it into bloody paste by making two pieces of earth slam together. Blood out leaked between the crease and the two pieces of rock slammed apart, a red and black parody of a human roaring at Orochimaru, limbs like sticks, torso as thin as paper.

Another clone leapt through the monstrous clone, turning it into a shower of flesh and blood, and Orochimaru was caught off guard as he couldn't see it coming. It sunk its teeth into Orochimaru's neck and hung there, claws opening up vicious lacerations on the Sannin's body.

Electricity sparked in the air turning the world white and full of hissing crackling thunder. Lightning blasted off the Sannin reducing the clone hanging off him to ash. It was too bright to look at directly but Naruto didn't even blink once.

"Tch." Orochimaru brushed the ash off himself.

"_**You're naïve if you think turning it to ash will reduce its desire to kill you."**_Naruto warned. The cloud of ash swirled once and attacked the Sannin's face, aiming for the eyes and mouth. Firudo hacked the clones into smaller and smaller pieces but they rolled towards him still, he laughed out loud and drove the blade into the ground and released a massive burst of electricity to turn them all into smoking chunks of charcoal.

The charcoal chunks quivered once and melted into a pool of black sludge before three clones reformed out of the sludge, bodies dark and dripping, mouths just gashes in their bulbous heads dripping darkness.

Firudo's next slash cut one open navel to crown and the cut just melted away in the liquid body and it tilted its head unhurt.

"What unrelenting monsters." Firudo murmured, mouth a vicious slash of anticipation in his face. He still hadn't lost the genin disguise. "Come."

They moved towards him all liquid grace and-

"Heaven seal." Firudo barked holding two fingers up, palm skywards. "Miryoku no tsumi."

A seal carved itself into the ground around the sludge monsters. Firudo stood outside the edge of the complicated lines of light and snapped his fingers. A bird fell shrieking out of the air and flattened into a blood smear. The leaves stuck themselves fast to the earth, everything in the circle

lay as close to the ground as it could. The liquid clones stopped, quivered, roared before being flattened into a pool of sludge by the increased force of gravity.

Even then the pool of sludge rolled towards Firudo like a vengeful carpet intent on leaving the boundaries of the seal.

"Maa, how scary." Firudo rubbed his jaw. "I wonder if you burn well."

Orochimaru answered his question for him. His cheeks glowed red as he blew fire between his fingers as if he was enjoying a cigarette.

"What trick did you use on these clones parasite?" Orochimaru asked, eyes gleaming with interest as he watched the fire have zero effect on the clones.

"_**Please."**_Naruto laughed. _**"If anything the brat is the parasite here."**_

"They're hardy." Orochimaru murmured. "For a lack of a better word I'd say immortal with how they move after they should have died a hundred times over." The top half was his face was shadowed with his hair falling over his face. "Tell me the trick fox."

"_**I'd rather watch you die screaming as they tear you apart."**_Naruto was grinning horribly, teeth bared_. __**"Pure hatred and destruction is so beautiful, don't you agree?"**_

"Is the third member of the team as interesting as the other two?" Orochimaru pointed at Naruto.

"Give her time, they had a twelve year head start on her." Firudo muttered, running a hand through his braid to free it in a fall of pale hair. "You know for all the legends about your power, all you've done is set some very tough clones on us." His lip curled. "I heard the stories about what your old host went through when you took over. That and this has _nothing _in common."

"_**Repeating history isn't my style."**_The Kyuubi said easily in Naruto's voice. _**"But you know what would be fun? Carving history a slice for myself. This brat wants to be Hokage I gather, pah, I'll make him the conqueror of the entire Elemental Nations. How amusing it would be to watch you humans bow before a demon!"**_

"Conqueror." Firudo said disbelievingly. "You can't even beat us, how are you going to defeat the combined might of all the villages?"

"_**Yes! Oh how glorious, a kingdom of corpses and a crown of bones."**_Naruto laughed his foreign delight into the sky. _**"**__**And I'll keep this one alive for being the honour of being my host."**_His lips twisted cruelly. _**"He will live and keep on living."**_He placed one finger in the middle of his forehead. _**"I will not let him die. And he will know what is like to be trapped in his own body utterly helpless for an eternity."**_

"You're delusional." Orochimaru said. "And I am insulted to hear that you think you could beat me."

"_**Say that after you manage to stop a clone child."**_Naruto told him.

"Kusanagi." Orochimaru said calmly holding the blade point in his direction.

Firudo attacked in a whirlwind, moving so fast at one point he left three afterimages in Naruto's vision. Naruto was sure he was leaving them on purpose because the Kyuubi hit every one of them and the white haired Nin kicked him in the back hard enough for his spine to break. Luckily it didn't and he stopped panicking inside his own head after a minute.

The Kyuubi blew up earth and rock in an explosion of steam and provided a spark himself. It set the air on fire around him, in bangs of heat and light, but the demon in his body shook off the damage easily. Firudo made a complicated series of cuts in the air and a seal glowed pink in the air between them. The fire got sucked into the seal before disappearing in a flash of deep red light.

"Does the sight of seals scare you demon?" Firudo asked through the smoke and ash as the demon went berserk and the ground around them vaporised with the force of the shockwave. The ground pitched and rolled like water, rocks cracked down the middle, trees snapped in half and the earth was charred and had the brown black colour of a rotting carcass. "Understandable. You keep falling for the same trick every time."

Naruto felt the fury spike to near dizzying levels. Was this how the Kyuubi felt _all _the time? This much hate? This much malice corrupted his heart? He knew at this point the fox would like nothing more than to take Firudo apart muscle by muscle, organ by organ until the man died in screaming agony.

There was three feet of steel sticking out of his stomach. (He had been stabbed.) He viewed it curiously. (Obito was going to kill him if Sasuke didn't do so first.)

"_**Tell me about your sword."**_He murmured, flicking an eye over the seals written into the blade.

"I'd rather watch the look of confusion and semi-horror on your face." Orochimaru said mildly from behind. "Leaving yourself open in group combat is so foolish, don't you agree? I suggest you get experience with combat in your host's body first before trying to take anything over. It'll be a very embarrassing show otherwise."

He retracted the sword and Naruto dropped to his knees, the crown of his head and the area under his belly button hurting terribly.

"_**Ah."**_He said. _**"What a shame. Back I go into the breach. But think about this; you can win as many times as you like and I'll go back to this brat's stomach. But I only need to win once and that's it. Game over."**_He looked at the two men and smiled cruelly. _**"I'll remember your souls."**_

"I shiver in terror." Firudo said boredly, placing his sabre under Naruto's chin and tilting his head up.

The tension in Naruto's limbs vanished. His head stopped spinning in faraway places and came crashing back to ground. He blinked to get the sense of his surroundings and meeped once he felt the cold steel at his throat with Firudo's shadow over him.

"Yo Naruto-kun." Firudo greeted. "Your pet has quite a temper. Now try not to move, I'm still quite twitchy."

Naruto went still before looking at the sheer damage the Kyuubi had managed to wreak. How had anybody not interfered yet? Seriously did the examiners expect this kind of damage on _average?_

"Troublesome brat." Orochimaru didn't sound that disapproving. "You delayed my schedule by a good half an hour. Such a pity I can't give you a seal and risk them interfering."

"Leave Sasuke alone." He whispered, moving as little of his throat as possible. The cold line against his neck was incredibly sobering.

"Or what?"

Naruto felt very cold inside. "I'll release it again. And again. And again. Until you're beaten."

He could tell Orochimaru was smirking. His back crawled with unease.

"Why don't you try that?" Came the soft hiss.

Naruto tried to reach out to the fox. He had been possessed, he knew what he was looking for now. And to his horror he found nothing, his stomach was cool in the lines of the seal, it felt like there was ice packed in his stomach where the sword had run him through.

Damn.

That had been a sealing sword.

Damn.

His greatest double edged weapon had been neutralised. He let out a small huff of laughter.

This was how he died.

Alone against two of the legendary warriors of their village.

Well that wasn't bad.

But he didn't want to die.

He wanted to see Sasuke open the present Naruto had got him, he wanted to see Sakura finally finish the painting she stashed at the bottom of her bed, he wanted to teach Obito how to brew a decent cup of coffee, hell he wanted to see Rin and Obito get together and the journey to that ending.

He wanted to know what the fuck was going on with his family. Who the hell was the man pointing a sword at him. He wanted to see Itachi again for some strange reason before he died just for completion.

Firudo's eyes were blank and he could read nothing from them. Here, in front of him, was the missing Nin Firudo, not the easy going man that had motives murkier than muddy water.

He put his hands in his pockets and shivered as the wind picked up. His fingers closed around the cool metal of the flare gun and discretely clocked the barrel clockwise. Konoha standard flare guns always had two settings; standard and personalised. He had been using the personalised one but now he needed the standard flare. It was preloaded, locked into place and it was one use only.

His thumb curled around the trigger as he held it backwards. If he fired he was undoubtedly dead but hell he was dead anyway.

"Hands out." Firudo ordered coolly.

"I'm freezing."

"Your sensei should have taught you thermal control then. Hands."

He did so. The second the edge of the barrel was out he pressed down and the flare ignited. Firudo's sabre took it apart in the micro second after but the damage was done. A small fire of victory turned the taste in his mouth sweet. Then dread over took that.

The pitch black column shrieked into the air, perfectly straight, it was an incredibly rare sight within the village itself Naruto knew.

'Danger of Death'.

Usually most people died before being able to set theirs off so it was pretty rare in the battlefield too. Setting it off as a prank was equivalent to low treason.

"Damn." Firudo said. "Haven't seen one of those in a while." He watched the flare go and sighed. There was a chill at Naruto's neck as his sword sliced through muscle, sinew and bone. Blood splattered down his front, there were dizzying flashes of black and red and Naruto's head jerked back gasping as the genjutsu hit him hard.

Firudo seized him with an iron grip by the back of his neck and half dragged him half carried him as he walked away.

"If you want the Uchiha go now." He said lazily. "This one is mine." Naruto's feet caught on the earth, leaving trench marks as he desperately tried to slow the Nin down but even in his disguise Firudo was stronger and he didn't even seem to notice Naruto was resisting.

With his arm he picked something off a flat piece of rock and the henge fell away. He draped an unconscious Hinata over his shoulder (She was alive!) and their surroundings vanished in a blur of green and black.

He slammed into the ground and the kick to his stomach had him retching on the grass as Firudo carefully set Hinata down. The breeze was cool, the sun was bright and the serene surroundings did not fit the situation at hand.

One: He had not been killed (yet). Two: He was alone with Firudo but Orochimaru was gone (yay?) after Sasuke (shit.) Three: Hinata was alive if unconscious (oh thank Kami). Four:-

There was a rustle and the three genin who had been already in the part of the forest started to demand scrolls.

"Run." He wheezed.

Firudo shot him a look like he was being stupid, the bodies of the three genin fell to his feet with a thump, needles stuck in their necks.

"What do you want?" Naruto sprang forward and dragged Hinata's body away from the man. There was no need for him to have a hostage, things were bad enough as they were.

"Anko-chan's the one directing this exam isn't she?" Firudo said calmly, walking in a slow arc around Naruto. "How cute. I did like her, maybe I'll pop in and say hello."

"Leave the scary woman alone." Naruto said immediately "Are you insane?" But Firudo ignored him.

"But interrupting teacher student bonding time is impolite." He mused. As he walked his flesh rippled, his bones lengthened, his hair absorbed darkness from the shadows until a familiar dark haired man came to a stop and inspected Naruto's condition critically.

Great now his reach was twice what Naruto had.

"Shall I give you a chance little bird?" The man asked rhetorically. "Do you want to live?"

"I am _going _to live."

"Brave words." Firudo closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Well go on then."

Naruto was stumped. What? Get on with what? Living?

"Your parents." Firudo cracked one dark eye open. "Sasuke-kun's not the type to be able to keep that kind of secret from you. Aren't you curious about them?"

His breath caught in his lungs in one icy block. That was right. Firudo knew his parents. But he had promised Sasuke: he wasn't going to 'run off and ask Firudo about his parents'. A sudden desire to _know _rose up in his gut and he choked back his response that he wasn't curious and that Firudo should go die in a ditch somewhere for tempting him.

That _bastard. _There was no way he could ignore the fact that the man in front of him knew the names and faces of his parents and could tell him _anything _about what kind of people they had been. How many bingo books had he trawled through for even the slightest hint and there was _this man _standing in front of him rubbing the fact in that he had known Naruto's parents and he didn't.

Firudo watched him struggle for a few seconds, lips twisting with a sardonic humour.

The question was could he live with himself if he passed this opportunity up? But his promise to Sasuke! But Sasuke knew the names and faces of his family, deceased or otherwise. Naruto had _nothing. _It left a hole in his heart that not even Obito could fill.

The first words out of his mouth were strangled and indicative of his desire to turn back time so that his tearing dilemma never happened.

"You don't give things for free." He said sharply remembering that tiny nugget of information.

"Then the question is what you can offer me." This time his smile was diabolical and Naruto hated him even more.

The worst thing about this was that he knew Firudo kept his deals. Sasuke had asked to save Hanabi in exchange for something he could give and Firudo had kept his word to the letter. And _only _to the letter. He pressed his lips together and looked at the ground.

Damn, it was Sakura who kept Hatake Sakumo's love letters and picture on her. This would have been a perfect time to use them. But there _was _something else he could use.

He neededto know.

He had lost everything on his mother's side in the last few days and the urge to connect with her family was burning inside him.

He _needed _to know.

Hopefully Sasuke could forgive him.

"Rain said they know what happened on Uzu." He spoke. "They called a peace meeting in three days. They saw through your lie completely. So if you don't want me to tell them exactly what you did…tell me who my parents were."

There was an air of satisfaction around the man like he was a cat who had found the secret entrance to a dairy storage.

"Blackmail?" He asked smiling. "Genin grow up so fast."

Naruto gave him a flat look.

"But let's weigh up the sides shall we? Your proposal means I tell you something you've spent your entire life trying to discover or I get blamed for a ridiculous story for which there is no physical proof or witnesses who aren't certified with concussion."

Naruto's jaw dropped open.

"Here's my deal." Firudo continued smoothly. "I'll tell you what you want to know if you answer two questions for me honestly."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What are they?"

"One. If you consider Sasuke your brother does that mean Sakura is your best friend?"

"Ahh. Yes? Yes."

"Number two." Firudo continued, face not giving anything away to what he thought of Naruto's answer. "The passphrase to the peace conference. Give it to me."

"That's not a question." He said stubbornly.

Firudo rolled his eyes: "What is the passphrase to the peace conference?"

Naruto opened his mouth to deny any knowledge-

"You know because you are showing all the signs of an imminent flight risk. I've been watching you for a lot longer than you think Naruto-kun, you need to get out and combined with the fact you know about the conference at all suggests that you are a guest."

"I don't know." He said stubbornly. "I'm not a guest, I'm not going, and in _fact _I was looking for a heaven scroll."

There was a hand knotting in his hair. Soft bloodlust emanated from the blank faced man, his throat was dry, his eyes were dry, and the skin of his palms were dry. It felt like a wire net was slowly wrapping around his heart and lungs slowly constricting them into chunk sized cubes.

"Developing a liar's tongue is admirable." Firudo hissed, his larger frame seeming suddenly _much _more threatening. "But you will reconsider lying to _me._"

His words dried up. Multiple trains of thought ran through his head on what to say but they all burned like train crashes, scattering random letters onto the tip of his tongue and mind.

"Meep."

Firudo rolled his eyes and the soft bloodlust dissipated like soft mist.

"I can't give you that." He said. "This is…an event that will change the world. It's about my family, _peace,_ I can't give you the keys to walk freely in there. You have an agenda to stop this, you must be wary of what they know, it would be beyond stupid…you're a freelancer mercenary, this goes against your very way of life."

"You're frightened of what I can do surrounded by kages, kage selected and bodyguards." Firudo's voice was dark and smooth. "You are such a funny brat, but your intuition is correct. In the right place at the right time one move can bring down kages and gods alike, thunder shaking the sky-"

"Mountains spearing the sun." Naruto finished the saying before he could stop himself, the words slipping out. That was a Rin quote! Rin had said it once and only once when she had collapsed into their house after a really bad mission. Naruto had been in the kitchen getting a glass of water when he had seen Obito hug Rin through the crack of the door, chin on her head as she cried out the loss of her team mates. Obito had finished the quote for her though that time, the shape of his mouth strangely bitter.

"Ah you must have heard Rin-chan or Obito-kun say it." Firudo's smile was sly. "Your father was the one who said that you know. We were all very fond of him."

His _father _had said that? That was an awesome saying. His dad must have been awesome too!

…Oh that _bastard. _

"Ask me another question." He snarled, voice going almost guttural.

"I will not." Firudo inclined his head and swept his hand out in a tiny arc to indicate a challenge. "You must weigh up what you value more: the passphrase to a peace meeting doomed to fail or your parent's identities."

"What do you mean 'doomed to fail'?! There's no indication of any war! You lied to Sasuke, this chunin exam's been…well _we've _been the most antagonistic team so far so that really tells you something!" He jabbed a finger at Firudo, heat licking up his neck. "This has a chance of working. Entire villages co-operating; this could really work! Hey!"

The dark haired man was laughing.

Hands in pockets, thin frame rocking on his heels, laughter tinged with incredulity filling the air.

"For peace to last between villages, there must be peace _in _the villages first."

The shape of his mouth was amused but his words were dark and his eyes reflected that. They were glittering as if Firudo was trying to convey his amusement but they ended up being the glittering of light in a spider' eyes. Firudo was not amused. This was old, painful territory for him.

"This village can't even hold its peace without bloodshed and internal fighting." Firudo chuckled. "And Konoha is admittedly the best at promoting peace. Multiple villages working together? The world will burn."

The sheer confidence sent ice skittering down Naruto's back. He remembered Obito's anger that he had not entered them for the exam and the Hokage's comment that if the War Hawk had his backing their _Jonin sensei's _will could be overruled. Overriding a sensei's authority was technically the Hokage's right but it was hardly done anymore, it was a sign of lack of confidence in the sensei.

Then there was the murky confusion about the Uchiha massacre and the truth of that affair. Fukanara sensei had gone missing soon after and Team 7 had been forced to conclude Konoha had eyes and fingers everywhere. There was Hatake Firudo condemned to being reduced to a traitorous memory and the man had snapped until he had forsaken the village he had nearly died for and now stood in front of Naruto talking bitterly about peace.

"I won't need to do anything for this entire thing to fall apart." Firudo sounded _bored _of all things. "I merely want a front row seat. Now give me the passphrase and I'll tell you what you've always wanted to know. Oh here's a lovely brain teaser for you, your precious Uchiha sensei and Rin-chan? They knew your parents down to the colour of their blood."

He smiled as Naruto's uncertainty grew. Obito and Rin knew his parents? But they had always sworn…Obito _knew _how much his family meant to him and he still kept it from him? Maybe Firudo was lying?

"To think that I'd meet your son and he would attack like there was no tomorrow. Orochimaru managed to work it out from a single glance." Firudo said cruelly. "You really think after twelve years your precious people are still in the dark about it?"

They…wouldn't. Not…his parents. They had seen him trawl through book after book looking for similarities, any names that his could be derived from, talking to all the orphanages in case they had any records of who had left him there; they had pulled him away and tucked him into bed, told him it wasn't hopeless and still let him search if they knew the answer?

He _had _to know.

"Tell me your information first." He said. He wasn't stupid, if he let his leverage go there was no need for Firudo to honour his word. Firudo's eyes gleamed in triumph.

"I'll tell you who your mother was." He said simply. "And when I find out whether the passphrase was correct or not at the conference, come find me. I'll tell you who your father was."

Why are they keeping it from him? Did they not trust him with the details of his family? What else did Konoha know that Team 7 should know but had been kept from them? A flash of sorrow burst in his chest and was squashed quickly.

"Your mother was one of the most admirable women I've ever met." The dark haired man told him seriously. "One of the most ferocious, brilliant people I'll ever know."

Naruto's throat choked up.

"She had this trick." Firudo placed his hand over his chest. "Of fusing her soul with her chakra and producing chains that couldn't be broken under practically any circumstances; it was simply breath taking. Your father fell in love with her hair first; it was as red as blood straight out of a fairy tale and she was beautiful."

Tears pricked the corner of his vision. His mother sounded amazing. And despite everything he knew he would be grateful to Firudo for telling him about his parents. And that was so dangerous but he didn't care at the minute.

"She couldn't cook to save her life, knew how to play this shell instrument so loud that she alone could keep up half the village with the sounds of storm and screeching, then your father joined her and thankfully he had a bit more of a musical sense than your mother and was generally able to turn that cacophony into music. I sometimes found them stamping their feet and singing at the top of their voices when people decided they needed their sleep and sent me to deal with them."

The man's mouth curved into a fond smile.

"Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina."

Uzumaki Kushina.

What a pretty name. That was his mother's name. His _mother's _name. He had _her _name. He was grinning like a fool, he knew who his mother was and she sounded badass. His father and mother sounded like they had loved each other very much and it was the answer to the question every orphan asked themselves at some point in their lives.

Firudo waited quietly, the last vestiges of his smile on his face as he watched Naruto digest the information and come down from his euphoria of truth. He buried his face in his hands.

"Hunter's dream, watch all the lambs lay down, we're a second away from spinning into starlight and dust, oh watch us, watch us live."

There was no way to say that line without having his voice slip into the soft, desperation the original work demanded. The leader of Rain was a fan of ancient Mist literature and it was great.

"Thank you Naruto-kun." Firudo inclined his head. "You know I find myself curious. What has your precious sensei taught you that qualifies you to be in these exams?"

"He has taught us more than you ever could." Naruto said sharply, the slight against Obito-Nii drawing his hackles up. The happy feeling in his chest turned hollow as he remembered abruptly who he was dealing with.

Firudo sighed. "I am _chunin_. The gap between us is laughable but you think you can claim the same title as me?"

There was _no _way he was chunin. Sakumo had claimed the title of elite Jonin and not even after his shame was it taken away. The old doubt between Kakashi and Sakumo surfaced but he forced it down, Firudo was Sakumo and he was a liar. Had he lied about his mother? Had he just given away the passphrase for a lie? Self-doubt churned in the pit of his stomach.

"Maybe I'll teach you a little respect for the skill of the chunin." Firudo said, voice darkening at Naruto's disrespect. "Do not underestimate the ledge you have to climb."

Kami this man was mercurial.

"Orochimaru is after Sasuke." Naruto said slightly incredulously. "I am not wasting time here with you. I told you what you wanted to know, now let me go help him."

Firudo's face didn't even flicker.

Oh _shit_. He had made a mistake. How did he keep making them? The man's stare was calm and it felt like the flesh was stripping back from Naruto's bones. His eyes were so much darker than Obito-nii's, like an icy lake at midnight. His heart started to flutter faster. It felt like there was an invisible snake coiling around Naruto, baring long fangs in his face.

**Leave a review on what you thought? Thanks for reading **


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It has been forever since I updated and I apologise **** . Life's been crazy with starting uni and family crises but I thought I'd finish off this arc sooner rather than later. There's one more chapter after this and then the Rain arc will start (which is maybe 15% written, so there will be another hiatus for that…) Everyone giving reviews, you are all fantastic and they are greatly appreciated! Thanks, you guys ****. **

**For this chapter…well Firudo gets a chance to be the bastard he is. Heads up. I've been wanting to write these scenes forever and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out in the end. *crosses fingers* So enjoy guys **

Anko's voice buzzed over the communicator as they streaked through the forest like flashes of light, tracking the foul chakra.

**Anko: Woah, hold on. The chakra's plummeting, really, **_**really **_**fast. Shit it's even lower than the normal reading the brat gives off, something forced it back.**

What could force the Kyuubi back from temporary control down to a dormant state? Nothing a genin could ever do Obito was sure.

"There is only reason that I can think of that for Naruto-kun to even think about using the Kyuubi." The ANBU with the turtle mask tilted his head as he jumped another branch, legs a dark flash.

Obito knew the answer.

"They split up." He answered shortly. The sun gleamed off his white bone armour reminding him of when it gleamed with something darker, glistening with all things red.

"If we consider this hypothetical situation that Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan ran into someone intending harm to Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan; then is it not likely that to stall them he would fall back on his greatest weapon especially if they were skilled?"

Rin closed her eyes and Obito's heart twanged. Her student was in the middle of the destruction, who knew what worry she was feeling. Hinata did not have the advantage of supernatural healing powers.

"And hypothetically speaking if the Kyuubi's chakra was to fall rapidly." Gai whispered.

"He's not dead!" Obito snarled. "There are other ways to force it back."

A terrible dark rage was rising from the depths of his soul. If Naruto was dead, then whoever had killed him would die slowly and in terrible agony, living as long as and in as much pain as Obito wished. After growing up in one of the darkest families, reading the police torture manuals, their case files on the criminals and years in ANBU Obito knew how to cause a _lot _of pain and keep the mind sane.

"That's not my point." Gai's voice cut through his rising rage like a kunai. "Then while we are distracted by Naruto-kun's plight, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan are now in danger if the hypothetical situation holds true."

"Or." Asuma added. "It's another attack on the Hyuuga. Maybe they gave up on the kid and decided to go for the other one. In that case, she was incredibly lucky Uzumaki was with her."

Kurenai frowned and did a neat front flip, tucking her knees in close as the ANBU flitted on her side, subconsciously taking the position of bodyguards.

"Rain claims it wasn't them." She spoke to herself. "And then this happens so soon afterwards. I suggest we split. Nohara-san go check on the older Hyuuga; Monkey check on the rest of Team 7 and come back immediately if they are unharmed and in no danger of dying. Asuma and Turtle with me and we'll join up with Anko's quad to investigate."

Then they saw the flare and something in Obito's chest cavity constricted painfully.

Danger of death.

At least they knew Naruto wasn't dead yet. He looked to Kurenai who looked almost apologetic.

"Keep orders Uchiha." She said. "We'll keep them alive."

There was a sinking sensation in his chest; fear for his little brother, bitterness at being sent away but he locked them away. He knew better than this. If Sasuke was a target then he needed to stop it, if Naruto was dying then Kurenai and Gai would stop that. He had faith in his old ANBU team, they would not let his brother die.

…###################################################################...

"Very good Naruto kun!" Firudo actually sounded delighted that bastard. "Again!"

Naruto growled and pushed himself up on shaking arms before collapsing back face down into the mud.

A harsh kick to his ribs made him curl up whimpering. Firudo's shadow fell over him and he tried to face the Nin.

"Don't disappoint me now." He could practically hear the disapproval in Firudo's tone. "You were doing so well." His hair was seized in an iron grip and Naruto was dragged up to his feet yelping.

Firudo flung away the ripped-out strands of blond hair and Naruto swayed on his feet.

"I won't let you win you bastard." He bit out and was immediately met with a stinging backhand. He fell back with a grunt, he had felt his tooth move with the force of that blow.

Firudo pulled his glove off with a smooth motion completely ignoring the fact he had nearly broken Naruto's jaw.

"_Never _say anything you can't back up." Firudo spoke calmly as if delivering a lesson, "It's foolish, wastes your energy and well…it's embarrassing to listen."

Naruto glared at him before spitting out some red saliva, "I'll do whatever I can to stop you winning."

Firudo's eyes gleamed in triumph.

"Better. But you've lost, admit it."

"Never." Naruto spat. Firudo's eyes iced over and he knelt so he could talk better to the fallen Naruto.

"Is it too much of a blow to your pride to admit defeat?" He asked curiously, "Would it kill you to bend your neck and admit that yes you've lost against a superior opponent."

"I haven't lost until I've given up." Naruto spoke not quite sure why he was answering Firudo. "When I admit defeat that's when I've lost truly."

"So, becoming a martyr is better than admitting defeat to you." Firudo spoke slowly. "But I wonder…your foolishness is applicable only when you are affected or when…your comrades are fighting alongside you too." Naruto looked up sharply into merciless eyes.

"Your friend." Firudo cocked his head back at Hinata, "She's of no use; she's pathetic and weak and is a hindrance to you. But I'm very good at using useless things. She'll make a good lesson."

"What." Naruto felt a rising panic inside. "No! Leave her alone! She isn't involved at all!"

"On the contrary." Firudo walked over to an unconscious Hinata and gently pulled her head back to expose the throat.

"You bastard!" Naruto bared his teeth in fury. "Don't you dare! _Don't you dare!"_

He willed himself to find some scrap of strength left in his body. He heaved himself up again but his strength failed and he fell back retching. Godammit, what had Orochimaru done to the Kyuubi? He felt so goddamn helpless!

Firudo just watched his attempts silently. "It's your refusal to admit the fight is over which will kill your friend." He spoke quietly placing one dully gleaming kunai over Hinata's jugular. "As long as the fight isn't over I will show no mercy."

Naruto looked up desperately.

"Fine! Fine! You win, I lose. Just don't kill her!" He cried out.

"Abandoning your principles is a sign of weakness Naruto kun." Firudo chastised. "If you hold something in your heart then you should never let them go like that." He smirked, "That just proves doesn't it…you're even more _pathetic_ than the girl. You cannot put individual lives over something you hold important." He stressed. "It brings tragic consequences."

Naruto felt cold bands grip his heart. No…He'd done exactly what the Nin had wanted him to do…

"Then what do you want me to do?" He roared, "I just don't want her to die!"

Firudo watched him and the feeling of the hawk like gaze scraped at his skin like razor blades.

"_Pathetic _Naruto-kun_._" He repeated disdainfully and something broke inside Naruto. "Begging an opponent for mercy?" He looked up and sighed, "I was going to let her go unharmed." He continued regretfully, "But your weakness is unforgivable."

Hinata's throat opened up in a line of red. It seemed almost black in the light and against her skin and for a second Naruto hoped against hope that it was a genjutsu for this couldn't be real. It couldn't be that easy to kill someone!

He screamed in rage and grief.

"Remember Naruto-kun." Firudo was too much of a gentleman to let the body drop ungracefully to the ground. "This is your fault. If you had been stronger or held on to your beliefs she would have lived. _This is completely your fault._"

Naruto flew at him yelling, kicking and scratching. Firudo easily caught his wrist with one hand and swung him around so that he scored a line of scuffed earth along the ground in a painful skid.

Hinata was dead. That bastard had killed her!

He was up on his feet faster than he realised and attacked again. Firudo shifted Hinata's body slightly so that her small frame could be held securely with one arm and used the other to lazily slap away Naruto's kicks and punches. It was _infuriating. _

It wasn't his fault! Tears pricked the corner of his vision.

Firudo tired of the game and his hand shot out grabbing Naruto by the jaw and neck, completely lifting him off the ground. Naruto choked, the pressure on his chest and vertebrae drastically increasing and was forced to remain still and claw at the man's grip in order not to break his neck.

He glared at Firudo so hard he could feel the stinging on the whites of his eyes. What he had done was unforgivable.

"Look at you." Firudo murmured. "Do I need to kill another friend for you to understand when you've lost? Defeat is not optional believe me."

"Why aren't you killing _me _if you want me to realise I've lost?" Naruto snarled trying desperately to access that foul chakra locked inside him. He needed it more than ever and it shied away from his yanking retreating further and further from his system leaving his limbs cold.

"And let you die with the moral high ground?" Firudo smirked. "No, I would rather drag you screaming back to reality and taint that naivety of yours. Has the guilt hit you yet? Or maybe this bravado is a façade because you don't want to face the fact that yet another woman has died for your sake. Is that it?"

Naruto choked nails piercing through the first few layers of the leather gloves covering Firudo's hands. Firudo flexed his grip slightly and any reply Naruto could have given was cut off in a vicious bout of retching.

This couldn't be his fault…Firudo was the one to use the kunai…but he could have stopped it and he hadn't! How many times could he have admitted defeat and _Hinata would have lived. _She was dead. How could she be dead? It was his fault.

"I did warn you putting individual lives over the objective brings tragic consequences." Firudo sounded genuinely regretful. "But then." His eyes narrowed cruelly, "That's the complete opposite of what your sensei taught you isn't it?" He laughed lightly, "I do wonder whose fault it is that young Hinata died."

"You did the deed." Naruto croaked looking up at him with fierce eyes. "You bastard she was _twelve_."

"Well according to you the fight wasn't over yet." Firudo returned deceptively gently, "So I took out an opponent before she could take me out. You think she would have hesitated to kill me? She's a Hyuuga, they're trained to throw away their opposition to killing at a young age."

"She wasn't that type of girl." Naruto hissed.

"So, she wasn't trained enough." Firudo shrugged, "If her clan and senseis had bothered to train her more, then she wouldn't have been knocked out so fast. Face it Naruto-kun, it really is your fault for bringing her to a fight you were doomed to lose."

"It's…not my fault." Naruto croaked holding his hands over his ears.

Was it really his fault? He had failed to protect her that was true. A flash of pale eyes swan into his memory.

"_I have faith that we can protect ourselves." She had smiled at him after that._

He began to weep.

And still Firudo continued his relentless assault, "Shedding tears over a comrade you yourself killed Naruto? Have you no shame? It is an insult to kill someone and weep over their body…only the people who loved the person should weep when they die. And you quite admirably proved_ you did not care _about that girl_._"

He was stricken. He did care…? But he had killed her. He had tried everything he could. Everything but abandoning his weaknesses. He hadn't known it would have turned out like this! 'That makes it okay?' A voice suspiciously like Firudo whispered in his head. Her family and friends would hate him. 'Oh, such self-centred worries. Worrying about what they'll think about you when their family died?' What a coward he was.

He was shaking all over in self-hatred and denial. He had fallen deep into the trap Firudo had set. The man released him and he fell to the ground, calves tucking under him.

"It's ok Naruto kun." Firudo spoke reassuringly resting his hand on the shaking boy's head. "It won't happen again am I right? You've realised your weakness, haven't you?"

"_Never!_" He half yelled, half whispered.

"And what have you learned?" Firudo's voice was full of false sympathy.

Naruto let out a strangled cry before answering, "Ne-never to give up my ideals but to be humble enough to admit I've lost when I have."

Firudo was quiet for a second. When he spoke, there was a note of eagerness tainting that mocking tone.

"Do you feel that anger and hatred under your skin?" He asked quietly, kneeling down beside the fallen boy. "Bring it out." His mouth twisted into a smirk. "I want to see you struggle."

"I've given you all that I can." Naruto spat. "I admit defeat. You win. Are you satisfied?"

Firudo's fingers fisted in Naruto's hair and the boy gasped as his neck was forced back at a painful angle.

"It really was a tragedy when your mother died Naruto-chan." Firudo was talking like he wasn't inflicting agony on Naruto's scalp. "Truly. Konoha lost its only competent…well I don't believe you've paid for that information yet, and I lost a valuable friend." He sent Naruto a mildly pitying look. "Do you want me dead?"

"Yes." Naruto said simply then cried out as Firudo pulled his head back further.

"Lie." The man's voice was utterly serene. "You are too kind."

He didn't want Firudo dead? But he did! He killed Hinata and she deserved vengeance. But was it possible he was deceiving himself? Naruto's eyes widened in slight fear, the _minute _he started lying to himself he was lost.

"Tell me this Naruto." Firudo's voice was as delicate as spider's silk. "Do you want to be played or be a player? If it is the latter, _kill _your kindness. You will not last like you are now. Do you understand?"

Naruto mouthed a hai, seeing as his neck hurt to shift even slightly.

"Good." Firudo purred, releasing blonde locks, and patted the boy's head, tilting it back to show him the boy's dull gaze. "Those eyes really are exquisite. I think you deserve a reward for learning the lesson as fast as you did, don't you?"

"I don't want anything…" He felt dead inside. He had completely burned out with all the emotion he had sped through. He clutched his knees.

"Oh, I think you'll want this." Firudo chuckled and he tossed Hinata's corpse at Naruto. He caught the body with a rising sense of horror, wasn't it enough that he _knew _it was his fault? Did he have to look at what he did in the face?

Ba-dump.

A strong pulse fluttered in his fingertips.

Was that his own heartbeat?

He looked down in disbelief. It couldn't be…With a shaking hand he raised his hand to Hinata's gaping neck and felt only smooth unbroken skin. This was a trick! _A cruel trick!_

"Kai." He whispered and the genjutsu over Hinata's neck fell away like red paint. She was warm in his hands, her pulse was strong, _and she was alive. _

He stared. Anger, relief and confusion warred in him and he looked up at Firudo. The Nin stared back smirking slightly.

"Do you know who the first amongst the three of you to die will be?" Firudo asked. "Sasuke. Sakura will crumble first, you…you will leap to her aid because you are _kind _and that's what you do…leaving you open and your brother will fatally compensate. And that time it won't be genjutsus or pretty tricks, every single crack of your heart will break open more painfully than it did for the Hyuuga girl. It will be real and very much permanent."

"Remember Naruto-kun." He spoke softly, "You remember the pain and despair you went through and you _never _forget this lesson. Understand? Next time I won't be so lenient and you'll go back with a corpse in your arms."

Naruto gripped Hinata tighter and nodded so hard he thought his neck would snap off. Relief and gratefulness bubbled up in his throat and it tasted rancid.

"Thank you." He choked out not finding any other words. He touched his forehead to the dirt on his knees in an utter show of defeat. "_Thank you._"

"Brat." Firudo's voice softened just a fraction. "You really are a fool. Total submission to an enemy?"

"You didn't kill her." Naruto's voice was hoarse. "I owe you such a big debt."

Firudo laughed out in surprise. It was deep and full of mirth and so _infectious _and Naruto knew if he heard it under normal circumstances he would have smiled and laughed right back.

"You really are an interesting brat." Firudo chuckled, "Very well. I'll collect on that debt one day." Naruto couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine that those words. "Oh yes…I almost forgot." A wicked undernote entered his voice and his eyes gleamed, "Have you asked yourself why people haven't come to your aid yet?"

Naruto frowned still kneeling, "No…I haven't."

"I recommend thinking about it." Firudo advised conversationally, "Till another time Naruto-kun."

….#######################################################################...

Obito dropped like a ghost into the clear space where he tracked his cousin's chakra from. The dark-haired boy and pink haired girl, he was proud to note, were up in seconds, kunai in hands, halfway up a tree trunk.

There were five genin securely hanging from a branch, strangely they were wide eyed and all looked horrified. Rather strangely there were three chunin he recognised from around the village hugging their legs and shaking ten feet away. The earth was ripped up, chunks were missing from trees and there were singed smoking parts on the tree trunks. Kunai littered the ground so thickly it looked like a field of metal grass.

What on earth had happened here?

"Obito." Sasuke sounded a bit surprised and he dropped twenty feet to land lightly on the balls of his feet.

"That's Obito-sensei?!" Sakura put in her thoughts.

"What happened?" He barked.

Sasuke gave him a fierce look before nodding. "You must be the reason he left." Half of his hair stuck straight up, the other half was plastered to his face, there were scratches and bruises on all the visible skin Obito could see and Sakura was no better. His blood ran in icy rivers; they had been right, Naruto had been delaying and when he couldn't hold the person back anymore they had gone after the rest of his team.

Sakura edged closer like a wary bird.

"Orochimaru of the Densetsu Sannin." Sasuke answered and his heart nearly failed right there. His cute team had taken on a Sannin? And hadn't lost their lives? A terrible fear rose in his throat for Naruto, he knew exactly what a Sannin was capable of and the sheer possibilities that could have happened to Naruto was chilling.

"We saw the death flare." Sakura cried, hands flying as she recounted what had happened. "We knew it was Naruto, he sent us another flare earlier and we recognised the flight pattern. Then out of nowhere _he _attacked."

Obito gripped the shoulders of his genin feeling like if he let go they would disappear any second. All of them had come a hairsbreadth from death and one of them was still in danger. But if he left now, then the Sannin could come back and continue his work. He gritted his teeth and extended his range to try and detect the legendary Nin's signature.

Nothing.

"Did he say what he wanted?" He asked calmly, sending medical chakra into both children and watched their scrapes heal over.

"Something about possessing my body?" Sasuke shrugged. "We weren't paying too much attention to what he was saying you know Obito. Not when he was extending all over the place and trying to bite us?"

He sent a doubtful look to the three chunin. "Where did they come from?"

"Oh." Sakura said. "Basically, before the Snake Lord turned up, we crashed into a few teams while running from Neji-san's eyes. We stole their scrolls in the process and when he showed up, we remembered that under no circumstances were we to open them. So, we thought that the consequence of opening them _might _be a weapon we could use against him."

Sasuke coughed. "So, we snapped the seal and threw the scroll at Orochimaru."

He was feeling a rising sense of doom. He recognised that sheepish tone.

"It turned out opening it was the equivalent to summoning a chunin who would have failed us if we had done it under any other circumstances." Sakura looked at her nails going a bit red.

"In this situation Orochimaru ended up with an armful of a very traumatised chunin." Sasuke finished. "It distracted him and we drove a kunai chariot into him." He grinned and the curve of his smile was bloodthirsty.

"Kunai chariot?" Obito repeated, not quite believing his ears.

Sakura yanked a circular _thing _from the ground. It was a loop of wood with kunai stick through it like a Catherine wheel, all the pointy bits facing outwards. "Here's a wheel." She said cheerfully. "We sent Naruto to find a way out of here, meanwhile we were designing a chariot to get to Rain in."

"Firudo was quite helpful in that regard." He thought he heard Sasuke mutter. "Anyway, blood everywhere. Orochimaru looking at us like he didn't quite believe what had happened so we did it again. Two more times. And the chariot only broke apart into the mess you can see on the third go, then he vanished and you turned up."

Sasuke and Sakura shared a fist bump without looking at each other.

Obito was torn between feeling terrible for those _poor chunin _and incredulous at the fact that ridiculous battle strategy had worked.

"Did you come up with a hand seal for that?" His voice was strangled.

In answer, both of his kids crossed their first two fingers, spun them like they were flicking a rock and swept out their palm in a semi-circle.

Was it just him or were his team kind of scary for fresh genin?

"Enough about us." Sasuke barked suddenly. "What happened to Naruto?"

"Naruto might be in serious trouble." He said quietly. "He sent up the black flare a few minutes ago. There is a very big chance that he fought because you two might be in danger."

"All that crashing and the trees shaking the earth?" Sakura was rapidly going pale. "That was _Naruto?_" She looked at Sasuke as if he had just told her a rabbit had clawed the eyes out of a fox with a chainsaw. "The de-death flare? He's capable of that much damage and still lost?"

Sasuke's face contorted into agonised lines before smoothing out. "He did it, didn't he?" After a look at Sakura, Sasuke chose his words carefully. "He unlocked his kekkei genkei."

"Yes." Obito confirmed and Sasuke tilted his head back, hands over his face.

"That idiot. That _idiot._" He groaned. "If we were in danger, we could handle it. There was no need to play hero. In fact, we _did _handle it."

"No." Obito felt shame curdle his stomach. "If he hadn't we wouldn't have realised anything was wrong and Orochimaru would have defeated you two and done whatever he had come here to do. Hold on."

He unclipped the walkie talkie from his belt.

"Monkey reporting. Over."

**Kurenai: Report operative. Over.**

"The remainder of Team 7 had hostile contact with Orochimaru-san. Suspected that Naruto also had contact with him and slowed him down enough that the Sannin only made contact with Sasuke and Sakura about ten minutes ago, and fled when I got near. No major injuries here. Over."

**Anko: That **_**bastard is in my forest!?**_

**Kurenai: Anko, calm yourself-**

**Anko: I did **_**not **_**say OVER, you illusion toting maniac! If he's in the forest, then the exam's void! It's one thing to pit genin against each other, it's another thing entirely to set them against my old sensei. We need to get rid of him right **_**now. **_**Now it's fucking over.**

**Kurenai: *sigh* We have arrived in the place the flare was set off. There's a sliced gun on the ground and it is clear this is the epicentre of the fighting however there is no one here.**

"No one?" Obito whispered, cold ice solidifying in his stomach. Sasuke and Sakura's eyes were wide with worry and they were hanging to either arm in an effort to be closer to the walkie talkie. "No tracks? No Kawarimi signature? Over."

**Kurenai: No tracks. Well there might be but this destruction will have wiped it away. And no, Uzumaki's chakra is masking everything else. Now that we know Orochimaru was there, we can try to pick it up but it'll be incredibly difficult. Sorry Monkey but without a manual search, we won't find your genin. Over.**

Sakura and Sasuke shared one look. Throwing their heads back they screamed into the air.

"NEJI!"

**Kurenai: *static* Not a bad plan. Asuma, what are the orders? Over.**

**Asuma: Let the exam continue. Dad says under lethal conditions are the only times true shinobi are forged. We're to look for Orochimaru, there are reinforcement ANBU coming to help us. Obito, Rin sorry mates, but you have to cut off contact now. Let them do their own thing but follow them just in case the bastard loops back around. The **_**second **_**we find Uzumaki or Hyuuga, we'll let you know. Over.**

**Kurenai: There's no sign of Hinata-chan either, get Neji-kun involved. This takes priority over passing the exam. We'll call in the Hyuuga ANBU for help. Over.**

**Rin: Alright, hey Team 9 I'm going to stalk you for a bit for security. Ignore me.**

There were the distinct mumblings of Team 9 in the background.

Sasuke leant over. "We've got a plan to find them with Neji." He said crisply. Then he and Sakura each hugged him once around the waist.

"See you at Rain." Sakura whispered. "You handle the chunin."

"We got this." Sasuke raised a hand in farewell and both of them tore out of the clearing screaming for Neji.

"Fine." Obito sighed into his walkie talkie, jogging after his team, keeping them in his range at all times. "There's three chunin my team threw at Orochimaru by the way here and they look quite traumatised. I don't have time to handle them if I'm going after my team so send someone to sort this out. Over."

**Anko: What.**

**Kurenai: What?**

**Gai: What?**

**Asuma: I'm not surprised anymore.**

**Rin: You know what…neither am I.**

…..##################################################################...

"Wake up. Wake up." Naruto upended his water canteen on Hinata's face. He dropped to his knees and checked her pulse again when she didn't wake. If someone was unconscious for more than a few minutes that was a really bad sign. Could she have brain damage from how hard Firudo hit her to keep her out for this long?

Shit.

He carefully slid one hand under her knees and the other under her back with his elbow supporting her neck in a bridal carry. He staggered because while Hinata wasn't heavy he wasn't very big. Could he move brain damaged patients? But leaving her here would kill her if enemy teams found her. Gritting his teeth, he readied himself for a Kawarimi.

"If she's injured I can help." A soft voice came from behind. He tilted his head to see the silver haired medic smile at him cheerfully. Naruto's lip curled, he was in no mood for this. The medic was strange and Naruto had spent all of the chunin exams being suspicious of him and now he was offering to help Hinata when everyone knew brain injuries were something Jonin level medics were able to heal.

"Yeah." He said. "Bye."

He Kawarimid out.

…#######################################################################...

Obito watched Sasuke and Sakura run through the Forest of Death, speed boosted by a frantic desperation for their last team mate and noted that their speed would have been good for Chunin. Such a pity they couldn't hold this speed all the time.

"Hold on." Sakura slotted a flare into her flare gun and shot. A white and green flare burst above their heads and Sasuke sent her a look.

"They've seen Naruto use it before." Sakura explained as she flipped over a rock and threw herself between two branches and avoided getting her hair caught on anything. "It can be seen for miles and hopefully they might get curious and come here."

"Hah!"

An older Konoha genin leapt out of the foliage straight at Sakura. He was big and muscles rippled under his shirt, each one of his hands was easily as big as Sakura's head. Obito didn't even raise an eyebrow. Sakura, while not alone, had faced the likes of Firudo and Orochimaru in the field. He wasn't even going to worry about this genin.

Sakura on her next leap, landed on one foot, spun and kicked off, neatly cartwheeling over the genin's head and landing heels first into his back. The genin crashed with a solid oomph, face planted in some rocks. Obito picked up the other two members of the team circling to Sasuke's right and rolled his eyes.

Sasuke looped wire around a branch and completely took to the air. He too had noticed the genin and he swung around the tree they were hiding behind and his feet smashed into one's face. She dropped like a stone, screaming with a broken nose. Sasuke dropped into smooth roll, pickpocketed the scroll from her pocket and hit the other stunned guy on the nose with the wooden end, breaking it cleanly.

Then Sakura kicked his knees out and slammed an elbow into his neck and the genin dropped, all of the team down before they had the chance to say more than one word.

Obito preened internally. He was such a good sensei.

Sasuke flipped the heaven scroll in the air. "That's handy. Now we have something to bribe them with."

"Yes." Sakura said with a straight face. "Listen to us or we'll throw a chunin at you."

"That's a threat." Sasuke corrected, both of them taking off again. Obito followed quite amused.

"I have a feeling threats will work better on Team 9 than bribes." Sakura commented lightly.

In the distance, there was the distinctive smash of a tree toppling. Obito's head jerked, was that Naruto again?

His walkie talkie crackled.

**Rin: If you heard the tree fall, it wasn't Naruto. I know what you're thinking. Lee-kun just punched a tree too hard in excitement. Over.**

"Neji's eyes found them then." Obito grinned, pitching his voice so that his genin couldn't hear. "Over."

**Rin: The flare helped. *laugh* Over.**

Now Obito was curious what trick Sasuke and Sakura would pull to find Naruto and get them all out of the Forest. His idiotic team, if only they hadn't tried to be clever…he snickered. Then his laughter died as he remembered Naruto and the fact there still wasn't news.

"Kage bunshin." He whispered and two copies flickered into being and disappeared in a whisper.

"Are Shino-kun and Kiba-kun still annoying Team 9? Over." Obito whispered.

**Rin: They were, then I told them to stop as we don't need Neji-kun drained of chakra. They're looking for Naruto and Hinata instead now that they know none of us can find them. Over.**

"Why can't we suspend the test for ten minutes, tell Team 9 the situation and find both our students before resuming the test again?" Obito asked exasperatedly. "This is stupid, you're with him and you can't tell him the situation because of the secrecy laws. This might just end up screwing them over. Over."

**Rin: I would agree but they are literally a few seconds from crashing into each other. Geez this team is fast, oh hi Obito, I can see you. **

Obito jerked his head around, picking up the signatures of Gai's team and the subtler presence of his once team mate. Rin waved to him from the tree she was in a hundred feet away. He raised a hand in greeting.

Tenten and Neji split and went around Sasuke and Sakura in blurs so fast, they just left a soft breeze behind. Obito would give Gai this, he knew how teach speed.

His genin had both picked up on the fact they weren't alone and were grinning small conspiratorial smiles.

"I see Naruto left an impression." Sasuke nodded at the blood on Tenten's jacket as Team 9 emerged on all sides like a trio of predatory wolves. Rin dropped into the tree next to him and hissed for him to move up.

Tenten laughed. "Yeah. Heads up, if I see even a hint of a flare gun from _either _of you, I'm going to blow it to smithereens and then some." She hooked her thumbs in her pockets and smiled charmingly as if she had no intentions whatsoever to fight Team 7.

"You were yelling for me." Neji asked, blank eyes giving nothing away. "Why? Did you lose your sense?"

"Yosh!" Lee cried, hands laced behind his head, grinning widely. "They want to test themselves as much as we want to test ourselves against them."

Sakura pointed at him. "No. Definitely not."

"You are smiling Sakura-chan." Lee answered comfortably. "There is an element of competiveness there trust me."

"We need your help." Sasuke replied. The trees rustled above them and the scent of wild flowers blew through the clearing. It really was a sad thing that tragic events took place in such beautiful surroundings Obito thought.

"Are you crazy?" Neji exclaimed. "The only reason I hunted you down was to fight you. _Why _would I want to help you? That is not the point of this exam."

Sasuke smiled thinly and without humour. "We have just fought Orochimaru of the Sannin and the only reason we are alive is because Naruto and Hinata slowed him down long enough for people to realise something was wrong. I don't know where he is, or if _he is dead or not. _I am asking you, Konoha Nin to Konoha Nin, _please, _help me find my brother."

His voice cracked a little at the end showing that he was far more affected than he let on. Obito's heart went out to him and he looked away pointedly cursing the order for him to stay put.

Lee and Tenten immediately looked stricken and stunned out of their sandals.

"Orochimaru?" Tenten asked sharply, eyes narrowing into slits, hand subconsciously flitting to the sword on her back. "Has he gone from the area?"

"Not again." Lee groaned. "Neji, those cousins of yours need trackers on them."

"We don't know." Sakura shook her head, mouth a grim slash. "Neji…your eyes might just save Naruto if he's dying in the forest. You won't get a very good fight if one of us dead."

"Naruto and Hinata-san fought a Sannin." Neji noted dispassionately. "So, that's why Nohara sensei dropped in on us. She thought it was a repeat of the kidnap incident and checked up on me."

"Will you help?" Sasuke asked.

Neji shrugged elegantly. "Do I really have a choice after you phrased it like that and there are two Jonin in the tree behind you?" He asked dryly.

"Yes." Both Sasuke and Sakura said at the same time. "You could pretend to help us and not tell us if you see them, we won't be able to tell."

Neji's forehead crinkled with irritation. "Brats." He snapped without heat. "This is my cousin you're talking about. I have a duty not to let her die. And your brother too I guess, he's not bad as the other rookies I suppose." He tacked on as if it was an afterthought.

Tenten slapped a hand over her eyes. "What he means is." She said sounding like she was trying not to laugh, "Yes of course we'll help you." Neji sneered and the veins around his eyes pulsed.

"Why is it with this team we can never get a good fight?" Neji muttered to Lee in an undertone. "First its 'I'm too busy for you' and now it's 'the guy who was too busy for you could be dying with your cousin'. It would be insulting if I actually cared."

Obito and Rin shared an impatient look and coughed noticeably.

All five genin were gone in an instant with the reminder that time was precious.

"Were we like that?" Rin asked fondly at the clouds of dust left behind. Obito snorted.

"I'll tell you one thing, we weren't that small."

Despite all the worry something warm bloomed inside his chest when she laughed. They both needed to retain hope. Their students would be alive.

They had to be.

**Like it enough to review? ;)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto : ) . Last chapter in Chunin Exam Arc! I'll just post a recap because it has been a while: Team 7 disguised themselves (let's call them Team Trouble) and put kage bunshin as Team 7 (Calling them Fake team 7) in the exam. They both passed the first exam: Team Trouble by utter bullshit and audacity and Fake Team 7 by not bothering to do a thing. **

**Fake team 7 was taken away to do the Second Exam which was the collecting tokens to Rain. Team Trouble was taken to the Forest of Death for the normal Second Exam. Fake Team 7 dispels themselves and team Trouble suddenly realise that they are trapped in a giant, walled forest when they need to be on the way to Rain. (O the pains of trying to be smart).**

**On the way of trying to get out, Orochimaru and Firudo decide to say hello. By nearly killing them and murderous hickeys but who said adults in this this universe were well adjusted individuals? Some mind fuckery happened. Team Trouble were badass. Obito nearly had a heart attack.**

**And now they just need to get back together, get out, and run to Rain before it's too late and they miss the deadline and the Peace Conference. Oh, and deal with all their trauma but they might just be the first people in history if they did that and successfully recovered before the next lot of trauma. **

**As the author, I can guarantee that it won't help. Next arc is…well…you'll see.**

**Enjoy! : D**

The texture of the wall was rough under his palm.

Naruto thoughtfully looked up to the very top, craning until his neck hurt.

His chakra wouldn't stick to it. Wall walking was completely out.

That was all right. His brain felt like it was working quicker as the extra adrenaline hadn't worn off yet. There had to be a solution. Forget using one of the doors, this random section of wall would do.

He had seen the flare: friendly Hyuuga nearby. That was impossible, the only friendly Hyuuga was still unconscious and leant against a rock in his clear line of view. So, that meant that Neji was now helping them? That also meant Orochimaru hadn't found Sasuke? Victory burned hot under his ribs. So, his suffering was worth it in the end; that was good.

Naruto's mouth eased into a grin.

Yes.

This could work.

The Hyuuga eyes were an instrumental part of his plan and now Neji went and helpfully switched sides. Now he just had to get to the other side. He laid his ear against the wall and knocked on the concrete.

Too thick for him to create a clone on the other side. Too high for him to climb up even with his clones' help.

Ahhh…

His head snapped around. His idea was suicidal and very much insane and his team would kill him if they ever found out but he _had all that he needed. _He walked over to the nearest tree and tapped on the tree trunk.

Too thick.

It took him five minutes but there was a younger tree only three quarters the height of the others nestled in between the monster trees. It was still young and the wood wasn't as stiff under his fingers. It would do.

"Kage Bunshin."

A legion of clones appeared around him chattering their heads off. They knew the plan.

Loops of wire and rope caught around the top branches of the tree, acting like multiple nooses, and the many Narutos dug their heels in and pulled. Creaking and protesting the tree bent ever so slightly.

"More" He grunted, rope cutting a line into his palm as he tried to walk backwards. Bloody hell, how stiff were the older trees if a younger one was this hard to bend? More clones joined in and step by step they pulled the tree back until it looked like an arc. Two clones were overwhelmed and were sent flying by losing their grip on the ropes. Naruto dug in heels in bracing for that to hit him. The tree groaned and tried to return to its original position.

It took them many more clones and half an hour but eventually the tree was bent so far over that its leaves skimmed the ground and Naruto was honestly worried it would snap in half and that all their work would have been for nothing.

If this didn't give them enough force, nothing would. Hinata was fetched and he checked her vitals and if she was still breathing. She was. He let out a breath and clambered on the tree.

He felt like he was climbing on a frame of rods and that any second they would slide out of place and that he would fall screaming. He stood carefully on a branch that seemed likely to take both their weights but didn't apply chakra. Then he rocked alarmingly as the tree shifted and _did _stick himself to the wood.

Oh Kami.

"Dispell on the count of three." He ordered and his many clones nodded. This was slightly alarming, he could feel the tension in the bent wood under his sandals and it fought the ropes to return to its original position. He swallowed, this was going to be hair raising. Then excitement took over, he had never done this before, how exciting!

"Three."

His clones pulled back with everything they had to give them the extra boost.

"Two."

He tightened his grip on Hinata, it wouldn't be good if he lost her halfway.

"One."

A breeze ruffled the leaves in front of him like a field of waving green arms.

"Go!" He snarled and the tree snapped upright so fast their surrounding blurred. There was wind screaming in his hair and ears, he was screaming, the wood underneath was screaming at the abuse it was going through. There was the sound like a giant catapult firing, there was water in his eyes and they stung from Naruto keeping them open forcefully.

Before the tree bent back to its original position and they lost all vertical momentum, Naruto applied _way_ too much chakra to his feet and the duo were blasted off and were sent flying in a parabolic arc.

The world flipped around them. One second the sky was beneath them and they could see the tree shaking and shedding leaves if they looked up, then there was a carpet of green beneath them and the sky above. The wall was approaching fast. His eyes widened as they passed over the top of the wall with just three feet to spare, damn he had almost blasted off too late. He could see the wind blurring the details of what they were seeing and for a second they stood stock still in the air, the Forest opening up under them like a beautiful flower, the wall just a line of grey, then they were falling.

They couldn't land like this. They would go splat. Literally.

He pulled more rope from his pocket but this coil had a hook at the end. As they careened towards certain death he threw it upwards and to the left, the hook caught on the top of the wall and sunk in. His arm was nearly yanked out of its socket as it abruptly forced them to change direction, now swinging in a plane perpendicular to the one they were moving in before.

The rope wasn't long enough so that they would crash into the ground while swinging and he took comfort in that. His feet found the wall and applied friction to slow them down as the rope burned lines into his palm as he fought not to let go. He left a trail of concrete dust behind in in the circle he was skidding in.

This was so odd. He was completely parallel with the ground and this viewpoint wasn't one he saw often. His sandals were wearing thin and his heels burned as they made contact with the rough wall. Gritting his teeth, he held on.

When they were approaching the lowest point of the arc, the rope decided that the tension needed to counter the combined weight of two genin and make the centripetal force sufficient to swing was too much and snapped. They were sent flying and Naruto spun so that he crashed into the ground first and Hinata landed on top of him.

He slid a few feet painfully and then came to a stop. His head and back hurt, actually everything hurt and he collapsed back and stared at the blue sky above them. He could afford to take a minute after that heart stopping experience. The wall rose ominously next to him and he chuckled slightly.

Not even a wall like that could keep Team 7 in. He couldn't believe that had worked.

"Still not awake huh?" He asked Hinata.

When there was no reply he sighed, and clambered to his feet, wincing at the strain on his arms and the burns on his feet and palms. His palms were raw and red, and he had had the foresight to keep bandages on his person so that he could wrap them up tightly. His shoulder hurt like a sonofabitch and he bit his lip to distract himself from it.

There was no one nearby, the only thing visible was the gate curving off on either side and the sparsely grass coated earth where he had crashed. In the distance a stream wound its way in lazy arcs and on its other bank the legendary Konoha forests started up in a dense thicket.

Part of the wall of the Forest of Death must contribute to the Border Wall he realised. And when they had jumped it, they had landed outside of Konoha itself. Damn Firudo for cutting up his flare gun, now he had to wait for his friends to find him instead of giving them a hint. Kami he hoped he was right about Sasuke and Sakura teaming up with Team 9. Otherwise they were all in trouble.

He flopped down on the ground and sat, chin on back of hand already bored.

…####################################################################...

"Was that-?" Rin's voice spoke of total shock.

Obito nodded dumbly.

None of them could exactly miss a small orange speck flying through the air and over the wall from the vantage point they had.

Relief burned in his veins hot and strong; Naruto was alive, he was _alive _and causing havoc. It was like he hadn't taken on a Sannin and lost. The tension locking his muscles in his shoulder blades melted away and he punched the air.

"I have an awesome team! Rin. Rin!" He looked for her approval. "Isn't my team awesome?"

She was otherwise distracted. "There was purple there too." She stood up abruptly. "Hinata was with him! Both of them are alive."

Both of their genin was alive. It felt like their hearts were twisting in their chests. Losing comrades was nothing to losing _children. _Losing children that were dependant on them was even worse and Obito wasn't sure if either of them could have recovered if they had lost one of their genin.

Rin hugged him fiercely until his ribs protested. He hugged back just as fiercely.

They were _alive. _

The kids on the ground hadn't missed it either. The sound of wood vibrating was pretty distinctive. They took off at a run, trees blurring past them as they jumped from root to root, branch to branch.

"Found Uzumaki and Hyuuga." Obito spoke into his walkie talkie. "Call off search parties. Over."

**Kurenai: Perform the protocol to make sure he is in control Monkey. Then Nohara, Hyuuga must get back to her exam and Team 7 have to get to Rain if they are all in no danger. Monkey you and I will follow only after the village is secure. No sign of Orochimaru yet, Anko's got her snakes looking for him. Over.**

They skidded into the edge of the Forest, wall looming ahead of them.

Neji slammed a palm into it.

"Other side of this wall." He said shortly. "He has Hinata-san with him but she seems to be unconscious. They are both safe." His voice softened fractionally before resuming its hard, controlled manner.

….###############################################################...

There was a faint tapping coming from the concrete. Naruto unwound like a cat preparing for battle and laid his ears against the wall to better pick up the vibrations. Was it them?

*Injured. Recollect. What. Report.* He translated, brain picking out the meanings of the different lengths of taps. *7, 9, sensei, stripes*

Maybe he needed to brush up on his Code translation skills. What was stripes? Tiger?

He slammed a palm into the wall three times. *Shut up and let me talk*

The tapping stopped almost immediately.

Very carefully he tapped out his message. *Eyes. Swap. Sleeping. Eyes.*

There seemed to be a confused silence from the wall for a minute. He could imagine them puzzling over what he meant.

Neji appeared next to him in a cloud of smoke. Hinata disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"First time I'll ever say this," Naruto pointed at him. "But I am so glad to see you."

Neji's lip curled and he jerked his head in an order to explain.

"I and Hinata ran into Orochimaru." Naruto said and by the slight widening of the Hyuuga's eyes he knew that Naruto's relatively unharmed appearance had started him. Now what?

Did he admit about Firudo and the fact Naruto had essentially betrayed Konoha for information about his parents when Obito was just about five feet away? Naruto _couldn't _admit that ever.

Firudo was getting trickier and trickier, he gritted his teeth, the man hadn't even needed to threaten Naruto like he had threatened Sakura or Sasuke. He had essentially manipulated Naruto into keeping him secret and let Naruto draw his 'own' conclusions. Kami he hated how that man's brain worked.

"I used my kekkei genkei to slow him down but he won." He admitted bitterly. "Hinata won't wake up. I tried Neji, I really did but she _won't _wake up."

"How long?" Neji whispered.

"An hour?" Naruto gave him an estimate. "Maybe two?"

Neji went _white_. Every child knew what it meant when someone didn't wake up after a few minutes. Shinobi children even more so.

"I'm sorry." Naruto's voice cracked. He had dragged her into this with the stupid debt. This really was his fault this time. "I saw…that he hadn't found Sasuke or Sakura and that they had teamed up with you, so I continued with the original mission I had, which was to get out of the Forest."

"You are wrong."

Something sharp prodded dangerously at his heart. Was that fear?

Neji's eyes were terrible. "He found your team."

That _was _fear.

"But you did well." Neji continued. "You slowed him down enough that the rest of your team could survive. Your fight gave it away clearly that something was wrong. Well done Naruto, the senseis and ANBU were on the scene and everyone is alive."

His heart was thudding in his chest.

"They are unharmed?" He croaked.

Neji inclined his head in a slow nod. "From what I have seen, the most injured person is my cousin."

Guilt slammed into Naruto like a hammer.

Neji's lips peeled back. His eyes were cutting and he seemed taller than he usually was with Naruto hunching into himself.

"Your kekkei genkei is closely related to what happened to your brother in that place." He said quietly. "I saw him destroy an island, drag the sky and sea onto the earth and kill so many people. In contrast when you used it my cousin is only in a coma. _Only in a coma _you fool. You could killed her a thousand times over and I would not have blamed you for the loss of control." He clapped Naruto on the shoulder.

"No one will blame you for anything." Neji looks at Naruto directly in the eyes now. "Understand that."

Naruto swallowed. He had given the man who had put Hinata in a coma the information needed to be centre stage of the world changing. There was no forgiving that. Neji just didn't have the full picture. He felt like an insect, he respected Neji, he really did, and this gratitude felt false and when he pretended to acquiesce it felt like he was swallowing ash and oil.

"I'm sorry for before." He blurted because that was the only way he could apologise without Neji realising. "For Tenten and how I didn't fight you properly, it was unfair after you supported us in the first exam-"

"Your tongue is wagging far too much with apologies." Neji sounded irritated now. "Do you think us the type of team to need them?"

"Let me apologise however many times as I want dammit." Naruto snapped and the two of them were back to their irritated tolerance for each other. Neji sneered at him and was gone in a puff of smoke leaving Obito behind.

"Obito-Nii." And Naruto was startled. "Aren't you meant to be with the Hokage as his guard?"

"I was." His sensei agreed cheerfully. "Then I got permission to watch your first exam through the network of cameras."

"Oh."

Naruto didn't know what to say. Firudo's words were echoing through his brain about how Obito had known his parents.

"Oh, is right." The dark-haired man continued, humour biting his words. "I think that tape is going to go through all of the Jonin very quickly." Obito's eyes were dark. "I'd say this second exam trumps the first by a bit and a mile."

"Not my fault." Naruto pointed out. What would Obito-Nii do if he suddenly said Uzumaki Kushina out loud? The man's ANBU armour was a stunningly refreshing reminder that the Uchiha was an elite Jonin first and a guardian second. Naruto clamped his lips together.

"No." The man was smiling, a sharp cold parody of one, and it brought out everything Uchiha in him. "When we find that bastard he's going to wish he never went after my team."

The furious light in Obito's eyes was all quintessential Uchiha and he remembered the same light in Sasuke's father's eyes before the fall of the clan. Obito tapped him lightly under the chin, forcing his gaze up.

"Are you hurt?" his guardian asked quietly, tone hard and promising revenge. Naruto shook his head.

"The…it took care of everything."

Obito's lips twitched faintly. "Good. Make it pay a little rent."

"I lost control." He looked Obito straight in the eye who nodded.

"Yes." The man agreed, letting his chin go. "We saw on the sensors, and then something forced it back. You losing control is understandable, but then what happened?"

Naruto rubbed his forehead, feeling the scrape of dried blood, dirt and what else against his skin.

"I _don't _know." He confessed. "All I remember is flashes that make no sense? And it's fading now…like a dream. Demons and paper men; spirals burnt into the earth, fire and blood; and silver teeth- I don't know what happened."

It was that spiral that was haunting him though.

How was that even possible?

A hellish scene: tree stumps like broken match sticks, fire, and the spiral burned into the ground-his eyes-black on white-red on black-blood on mud- the details kept shifting and changing the more he tried to grab at them.

He looked at the sky above the Forest and saw the thick plume of grey-red smoke fill the air like a volcanic cloud.

A mosquito buzzed by them in lazy circles and a flash of terror curdled his stomach into acid, before he calmed down, heart racing like a humming bird.

Obito's eyes gleamed wine red.

Naruto's mind, already in a reminiscing mood, leapt back to _that _night.

Itachi in his ANBU armour, mask by his side, wine red eyes burning Naruto to his spot like nails through his feet. He shook himself hard.

Obito and Itachi looked alike yes, but that was no reason to associate one with the other.

_Are you sure? _His mind whispered. _A case can be made for both of them breaking sacred trust._

"I can't tell if everything's right." Obito said doubtfully, cocking his head. "But as far as I can see, nothing's really wrong."

"Hey Obito." Naruto interrupted. A bird shrieked high above them. "You'd never lie to me, right?"

Obito's surprise was soon covered up by a shrug: "Keep our occupations in mind Naruto." He refuted gently. "For a test? Or a mission? Or if I'm trying to teach you something? To protect you? I'd lie until you thought the sky was red."

Naruto nodded.

"I'm ex-ANBU." Obito stressed not unkindly. "I'm a senior Jonin. Sometimes I have no choice."

_Lie._

Obito narrowed his eyes. "Lies have power little brother. As you must have seen by now."

Naruto _flinched. _

"What's brought this on?" Obito looked faintly puzzled. "Honesty has never concerned you before."

"It seemed like a bit of an oversight." Naruto managed.

Obito shrugged, casually. "It's overrated sometimes. Anyway, I have to go back and help the hunt for Orochimaru. I'll join you in Rain when I can- do _not _get caught when you cause trouble, you hear me?"

Naruto scoffed.

"You did very well." Obito said quietly. "And I am proud of all of you. Rin wishes you the best. Now go finish this exam with pride."

Naruto's throat choked.

There was the feeling of hand ruffling his hair before he was gone in a puff of smoke. Neji's outline could be seen for a split second before there was more smoke.

Sasuke punched him straight across the jaw.

"That's not fair." Naruto complained, rubbing his jaw. "I didn't punch you when you ran off with Firudo and that was at least just as dangerous."

"Well you missed a fine chance." Sasuke's grin was wild, fierce and he drew Naruto into a bear hug. Naruto hugged back, not remembering the last time they had done this by deeming themselves too old for such childish antics.

"Well I dropped half a forest on the bastard." Naruto mock boasted and Sasuke smirked against his shoulder.

"Really? Sakura and I drove a kunai chariot into him after making him catch a chunin bridal style."

"One of my clones bit him on the arm and seriously freaked him out."

"You know what I just said: we did it _thrice._"

They released each other and kept each other at arm's length, grinning like loons.

"Firudo was here." He confessed and Sasuke's smile dimmed slightly then dropped off his face entirely.

"Why am I not surprised?" His brother sighed and flicked a look towards where Neji swapped with a nearby log.

"Tenten wishes to give this to you." A sigh. "She also insists that if she ever sees you use it, she will break your fingers. Lee might hold you down."

There was a flare gun in his hand with multiple coloured flares in the other. No sooner had Naruto taken them than Neji had Kawarimid with Sakura, now all of Team 7 were reunited outside of the wall and they could actually get on with their plan.

"Yo." Sakura waved at him and hugged him lightly. "Nice work."

Naruto gave her a thumbs up worthy of Gai and she cracked a smile. "Of course." He boomed. "You two were in danger. How could I let them pass easily?"

"Them." She repeated, smile becoming ever so fake. "I should have _known_."

The three of them exchanged brittle glances before simultaneously deciding to talk about it while they found a getaway vehicle.

….############################################################...

"I feel like a criminal." Naruto grumbled, hands behind his head as they digested all the information they had to share. "All this secret keeping is going to give me white hairs."

Sasuke was frowning, brows furrowed and he leant forward, fingers laced together in front of his face.

Naruto rubbed his throat wincing. Sasuke had _just _beaten Sakura in wringing his neck by _lunging _across the table when he had heard of Naruto's stunt. Sakura had had no problem in sharing when doling out pain.

"Kushina. Kushina? I've heard that name before."

Naruto looked at him in surprise. "You can't have. That name's not in any Bingo Books and practically every Jonin has one. I'm assuming she was a Jonin because she frankly sounds scary."

Sakura leant forward and hissed. "Another cover up?"

"Must be." Naruto felt a little lost. "Maybe my Mum was involved in something dodgy."

"Hey." Sasuke barked but there was no bite. "My family were not involved in anything dodgy."

"You family had dodgy written into their genes." Naruto countered. "All of you have something broken in the head." He sighed and tapped the table. "Anyway, I got us out of there, you handle the getting there bit."

"Would love to." Sasuke answered dryly. "But we broke our ride in a Snake Collision."

"I am curious who your father was if I'm honest." Sakura sighed then went very still. "I know!" The table shook from her slamming a hand into it.

"What?" Both boys asked. Maybe she was onto something?

Sakura slammed a fist into her palm. "What do you theory incompetent morons know about motors?" She was grinning wickedly, green eyes lighting up with the fever of a plan coming together at lightning speeds.

They looked at each other.

…..##################################################################...

Sakura tipped a bunch of tools onto her kitchen floor. It barely made a difference to the mess in the room.

"Explain to me what we're doing again?" Sasuke asked with the faintest note of disbelief.

"Harnessing the power of interacting fields." Sakura smiled at them from the floor where she was capping a drill with a mean looking end. "Sasuke chop the legs off the dining table but leave about five inches."

What was this girl doing?

"Naruto." He snapped to attention and resisted the urge to give her a salute. "I want you to grab magnets for me. Check in the vacuum cleaner, fridge, telephone, basically anything electrical in the house. Separate them into the north and south poles for me as well. There should be broken appliances in the garage."

"Hai?"

He was so confused.

"Also, there are two bicycles out back. Get them for me would you."

The girl hopped up her sofa and of all things pulled the curtain rod out, sending the curtain and hooks fluttering to the ground. Inspecting it she sent Naruto a sharp glance as if demanding what he was waiting for.

Scratching his head Naruto went out back and wheeled the two well used bikes in and left them by the radiator. Sasuke was sawing away at the table with his machete and Sakura had pulled the other curtain rod out and was drilling holes in the table.

"Is your mum going to be all right with this?" He asked the pink haired girl who considered the wrath of her mother and dismissed it in the light of their exam. Haruno Aisa was nowhere to be seen. While he was searching, he had found the house in the condition that belied that the woman was still living there; all the clothes were neatly folded away, the vacuum cleaner was outside a recently cleaned room and there was laundry hung out on the washing line. But they must have missed the woman stepping out to shop or work or something.

"Done." Sasuke announced, holding up the legs. "What shall I do with these?"

"Nothing. Flip over the table, would you?"

They did so and she drilled holes through what was left of each leg and stuck the curtain rods through them and spun to see if they spun freely.

"Magnets Naruto." She reminded gently.

Oh right. He wandered through the house and dragged a horde of electrical items back to the kitchen, not wanting to be separated from them for more than necessary after what had happened. Screwing things apart with screw drivers was surprisingly fun and soon there was a scattering of magnets on the floor that he found he couldn't not pile together or things would fly apart or stick together.

Sasuke came to work next to him with instructions to nail like magnets to four planks of wood.

"Do you know what she's doing?" Naruto asked. Their kunoichi really was clever and there was affection in his tone.

"Nope." Sasuke sent him a slightly baffled look as he nailed.

Thwang. His fingers forced the next magnet into place.

"She did ask me if my lightning changed direction when I was applying it?"

Thwang.

This time he nearly shot himself in the fingers as the magnet tried to move away.

.

.

.

"Sakura, here are the loops of metal you wanted?"

"I've finished attaching the wheels on."

"There are now handles on the top of the table."

BZZZZ.

"Don't kill yourself with the drill!"

"Arrgh!"

"You want me to electrocute that? _Why?_"

BANG.

"Holy Cra-"

"That was not meant to happen…"

"Alright." Sakura finished fiddling with the pieces of copper and graphite and nodded to Sasuke. "It should work now."

The dark-haired boy murmured something and touched the exposed metal of the wire connecting all the pieces of metal.

With a whir, the motor started up, the loops of aluminium spinning in the magnetic field created by the magnets Naruto had dug out painstakingly. The loops were connected to the curtain rods and they were connected to the bicycle wheels and so as Sasuke supplied lightning, the wheels spun in the air.

Sakura's grin was reminiscent of a cat with a crescent moon smile.

"It works!" She crowed, joy lighting up her features as she hopped around the kitchen and just avoided tripping over the screw driver.

"It's a… automatic chariot." Sasuke's shock was mirrored on Naruto's face.

"Uh huh." Sakura laughed, eyes crinkling as she took in their reaction. "Now we can get to Rain faster than on foot."

"You're brilliant." Naruto's voice was hoarse. He didn't even fully understand what he was looking at here but it was something he hadn't seen before.

Sakura's eyes were pleased slits of green and the smirk playing around her mouth was smug and self-satisfied. Naruto suddenly had an inkling how far she had come from the resigned girl they had lunch with and the pride was overwhelming.

"Now let's get to Rain!"

"One question Sakura." Sasuke held up a finger, still staring at the spinning wheels. "How do we steer this thing?"

…##################################################################...

The answer to the question was steering was rudimentary.

Naruto yanked on a rope and changed their direction.

Like a sled.

He was just grateful that Sasuke had an iron grip on his shirt because he was sure he would have fallen out already. Sasuke seemed unusually good at keeping his balance on this thing. Sakura had just given up and Sasuke seemed resigned that she had a white knuckled grip on his arm. He just complained about circulation once so often and she would relax her grip.

Their new set of wheels screeched down the streets, people giving them startled eyes, only relaxing when they saw Naruto and had assumptions fly through their heads.

Sakura's table rocked under them, Naruto was sure it was trying to throw them off, they bumped into things and crashed around corners but Sasuke kept them moving at quite a decent speed. They smashed into a hydrant, spun off, spinning madly, shrieking and rocketed down the street, becoming airborne when the road dipped suddenly and landed again painfully.

"Slow down for corners!" Naruto shrieked, wind nearly stealing the words from his mouth.

"He's right, these are bicycle wheels!" Sakura cried, tightening her grip, "How much friction do you think we have?"

"You might want to concentrate on the way _to _Rain Sakura." Sasuke's voice was calm and confident. "I won't break this I promise."

He did slow down after that on the corners.

When they passed the two chunin on guard, there was a cloud of brown liquid as the two men spat out whatever they had been drinking at the time.

"Team 7 reporting for the second exam!"

Then they were gone as they had deliberately taken the path where it was all downhill. The wheels spun madly, knocked off rocks and holes in the ground, sending the table rocking like a bucking horse.

"Hey Sakura." Sasuke said. "I feel like I'm going to need my arm in the future."

"Shut up."

Naruto laughed joyfully as he yanked the rope to the right and skidded in a giant arc to turn left. Oh shit _oh shit_.

They all screamed as they narrowly missed crashing into a tree and spun in circles as the great bark just clipped their edge. Turning corners in the forest was hazardous!

"I can't believe I'm saying this." Sasuke sounded faintly incredulous. "But I think I preferred it when Firudo was driving."

Naruto ignored him. "What are we doing about the tokens?"

"Forget about the stupid tokens." Sakura groaned. "Let's take a hint from the Yakuza and just charge in."

"While we are going pretty fast." Sasuke pointed out. "We're not near the level needed to outrun border guards."

Sakura grinned. It was hard to see with her face turning green but she grinned.

"That's why I brought this." She held up a fan.

"I did wonder why you had grabbed that, you crazy girl." Sasuke sighed. "Is this what they teach in civilian primary school?"

"All speed ahead!" Naruto yelled and steered it off a ledge and straight into false flight.

They arced through the air deceptively gently before gravity took over and they were rushing down, hitting the ground with a smash, wheels buckling, speeding down the hill until the leaves blurred and the wind yelled in their ears.

If his fellow passengers were screaming without shame that was only music to brighten their journey.

…####################################################################...

Obito was catching up with the border patrol chunin to update them about the situation when he felt a sudden doom.

"What the?" He muttered.

"Something wrong Monkey-san?"

Genma snorted from where he was lounging against the tree, eyes unusually bright. The senbon between his teeth gleamed.

"Someone's coming." He unwound in a motion that reminded Obito of a snake rearing to strike and bent his finger back at the joint to click it.

"How many teams have you stopped Genma?" Obito asked quietly, Jonin to Jonin.

Genma's smile was wicked. "All of them so far."

"We keep telling you that's against the exam protocol!" One of the chunin protested, arms spread.

Genma grinned at her charmingly. "Ah, don't worry, I'll take responsibility. If they think collecting a bunch of carved wood is enough to get past us, they're wrong. There's something inherently insulting in that don't you think Uchiha?"

"I wouldn't know." Obito said. "I've never had it happen to me."

Genma scoffed. "The Second Exam's supposed to be tough. Physically tough. Alright I'll give Anko that her replacement is screwy enough but it's suitable for the First Exam not Second."

Obito coughed a little in amusement. "What's the plan then?"

Genma narrowed his eyes at the source of growing noise. "Not very subtle this lot, are they? Anyway, I'm going to repel all of them until the last six hours then see them race to get there. Can you believe they've got me here babysitting genin?" He sent an incredulous look at Obito. "I mean they should have expected I would be mean, I have a bunch of rookie chunin I need to train up and they put me _here_."

"If it's alright I'm going to watch this one." Obito murmured.

"Be my guest Uchiha." Genma drawled, sweeping a hand. "You can even help if you want."

One of the chunin behind him muttered about the poor genin.

There was the sound of fire jettisoning out at high speeds, metal squeaking alarmingly, numerous crashes and people shrieking? Obito and Genma shared a baffled glance before a look of glee danced in the other Nin's face.

"Have you seen my team yet?" Obito asked casually having a very good idea who this noisy group was. What had they done now? They really were adorable when they thought outside of the box and ended up causing mass destruction.

Genma laughed and rolled his eyes to the sky. "Not yet. I'm looking forward to that one. No offence but I owe them one ass kicking for making me run around the village thinking I'd lost them."

Obito flapped a hand very amused. His reply was cut off by the team coming into sight. His jaw dropped open. _What _had they done?

There was a table (?) flying through the air. Four thin wheels spun madly at the sides throwing up dirt and dust behind them, Naruto pulling the front up so that the entire thing shot across the ground only on the back wheels. There was a stream of _fire _extending from the back (Was that a fan?) lighting up his genin's faces, highlighting their faces of terrified determination.

It was a precarious, ridiculous contraption and a choked snicker escaped from his clamped lips.

And it was coming right at them.

They could stop it. It would be easy, Doton would do the job nicely but no one actually wanted to kill the genin. Plus, it wasn't his job. He just watched very entertained as the death trap barrelled towards a stunned silent Genma.

Naruto swung his arm up and Obito stepped quickly to the side.

A brilliant white flare, bright enough to blind, shot ahead of the rushing team and exploded until Obito could see the light through the red of his eyelids. His vision blurred with multiple colours and was that all of the other Nin cursing? How irresponsible, there were impressionable minds nearby.

He watched fondly as Sakura stood up slightly wobbly on her feet but took aim with an orange nail gun and kept firing at the very alarmed border patrol. Nails sunk into trees, vests and he noticed she was avoiding body shots as much as possible.

Then a nail knocked Genma's senbon out of his mouth and he stared at the furious pink haired girl.

"Who says we're not a real genin team?!" She shrieked, then they were gone in a rush of metal, wood and fire. They had passed them so quickly that the chunin hadn't even had the chance to break out any weapons after they had been blinded. Genma, Obito had noticed, had aborted his Doton jutsu the _second _he had been blinded, despite his terrible attitude to Team 7 not even Genma wanted to take the chance of seriously hurting them by firing a Doton jutsu when he was blind.

Obito started to laugh, deep belly laughs that shook his frame and spilled his intense amusement into the air. _What _a team. And apparently still holding a grudge for something Genma had done to them.

Genma shot him an annoyed look and replaced his senbon. "Are you done Uchiha?"

He shook his head, still guffawing.

"What the?" One of the chunin weakly echoed, staring at the trail of dust and smoke Team 7 had left behind.

"I'll admit that was impressive for genin." Genma said grudgingly.

"Your faces!" Obito howled, banging on the nearest tree.

Genma's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "Do _not _get carried away Uchiha."

Obito pointed to him and quoted. "I'm going to repel all of them until the last six hours then see them race to get there. Said the big bad softie! You just let them right past you." He dissolved into side splitting laughter.

The senbon snapped in Genma's mouth. "U-Chi-Ha." Came a very dangerous growl and Obito carried on laughing.

…#################################################################...

"That was insane!" Naruto whooped. The rush of that straight charge had been exhilarating and it thrummed in his blood. His grip on the rope was tight, so tight that if it had been a person, they would have lost all circulation by now. He couldn't believe that had worked.

Sakura's eyes were slits of green fire and she sat back down, mouth tight and grip steady on the trigger. Sasuke let out a breath and released the fire, the table slowed down enough to be manageable, the front wheels touched the ground again and now they were rocketing through another country.

"I had no idea he was going to be there." Sakura said with all the smugness of a fed cat. "Kami that was satisfying." In the light the shape of her mouth was curved with pleasure. Yeah, they had picked up a scary Kunoichi at graduation. How lucky were they?

Rain was much less green than Konoha and it prickled at all of their sensibilities to see acres of hard flat earth, dotted with grey buildings in the distance. The wheels hit rough cement and they looked down in surprise. An actual road?

Water splashed down, the sky swirled with dark colours above them and a chill breeze made them all shiver. It was glum and gloomy but there was an austere grim beauty to the rising monolith of buildings in the distance like a triangular dot.

For some reason the surroundings made them less inclined to talk and Team 7 huddled together on Haruno Aisa's table top like wet little cats.

"No!" Screamed Sakura suddenly. "Sasuke stop!"

Their peaceful façade was shattered. The dark-haired boy sent her a surprised look before lifting his hands away from the wires. The table slowly slid to a halt.

"Water and lightning." Sakura was breathing heavily, eyes reflecting the shock that they had almost missed that. Naruto sent Sasuke a look and inched away from him. He had no wish to get electrocuted.

**Thoughts? : ) **


End file.
